Ash's Epiphany
by Avator24
Summary: Soon after his victory over the Kanto Battle Frontier, Ash is returning home, when he realizes that in order to become the very best, he has to shift gears in order to become a Pokemon master. First Fanfic, please be gentle. Inspired partly by Rise of a Master: Diamond & Pearl by Reborn Dark Phoenix.
1. Chapter 1: A Rival Meetup

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.**

 **Chapter 1: A Rival Meetup**

We join our Hero, Ash Ketchum and his partner Pikachu, travelling along Route 1, the path between Viridian City, and Ash's own home town of Pallet. Ash was a 13, soon to be 14 year old boy, with black spikey hair, quite a tanned complexion, with lightning bolt birthmarks underneath his eyes. He was also wearing a blue hoodie with the sleeves a darker shade, with a gold trim along the hem and a light blue Poké ball motif along the pockets. He was also wearing a ready baseball cap with a black and green Poké ball motif, light blue jeans, blue trainers and black fingerless gloves with a green trim. Situated on top of his right shoulder was his partner, Pikachu, was a yellow mouse that measure slightly over a foot in height, with a foot long lightning bolt tail, brown striping along his back, red circles that signified his electric cheek pouches, and his ears tipped in black.

Said aspiring Pokémon Master was, for lack of better word, buzzing with anticipation for many reasons, mainly returning home and celebrating his recent victory over Pyramid King Brandon and by extension, his completion of the Kanto Battle Frontier Challenge, with his family, friends and all the Pokémon he had befriended over the years. However, it is these celebratory thoughts that will force Ash to realize that whilst he isn't doing anything wrong, there is a better way for him to complete his quest, to become a Pokémon Master.

"We finally did it, didn't we buddy"

"Pi PikaPi Chu"

"We finally defeated Brandon and beat the Battle Frontier"

"Pi chu pi"

"I guess it's only now that it's starting to sink in isn't it"

"Pi Pikapi"

"Yeah, if we hadn't called back Charizard, Squirtle and Bulbasaur, we would have been in between and rock and a hard place" Ash stated whilst chuckling to himself at the mental imaging of said dilemma.

"Pi"

…

…

…

"Pikapi?"

"We really would have been still stuck there if we hadn't, wouldn't we Pikachu" Ash stated whilst looking at the ground, but not really staring at anything in particular.

"Pi chu pika chu pi Pikapi? "

"I mean, it took me calling forward the four Pokémon who had been with me the longest, had the most training, and the most experience to be able to defeat Brandon, and even then it was a close match as well"

"Chu pi chu Pikapi"

"And also, Sceptile and Torkoal put up extremely good fights against Regirock and Registeel, and yet, instead of training them just that little bit more, I put them to one side and focused on some of my other Pokémon instead". Whilst Ash was stating this, one could watch his facial feature twist from what was once alight with joy and pride, turn into a scowl and depressed look as what Ash believed to be the whole fruits of his past 3, nearly 4 years of labour come crashing down.

"Pikapi…" Pikachu sighed, believing that Ash was making the truth seem worse than it actually was, and even if it was, that was no reason to give up.

"I don't know Pikachu, maybe talking with Professor Oak about this would help me figure thi…"

"ELECTIVAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH"

"What was that Pikachu!?"

"Chu pi Pikapi"

"It came from this direction, let's go Pikachu"

"Pi Pikapi"

Ash and Pikachu skidded into a clearing of Route 1 by a cliff, and they were stunned by what they saw. There was a large yellow with black pattern humanoid Pokémon with a twin set of black tails, that overall, looked very similar to the duo, but also very different at the same time. The strange Pokémon was trapped under a very familiar net, and seemed to be suffering from a temporary case of electrical feedback, similar to what happened to Pikachu the time Ash landed in Hoenn over a year ago. The net was hooked to a very familiar Meowth balloon with a very familiar trio of nuisances inside the basket.

"Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed as he saw who was behind the strange Pokémon's distress.

"Oh look, the twerp has arrived" the long magenta headed female of the group, Jessie stated to her partners.

"Maybe he's come to play hero once again" the shoulder length, blue haired male of the group, James said with a sarcastic drawl.

"Or maybe the twerp has finally seen the light and decided to surrender his Pikachu to us" the finale member of the group exclaimed with a feral glint in his eye as he operated the netting. The finale member was special, in the way that it was a talking Pokémon, more specifically a talking Meowth.

The three members were part of the infamous criminal gang know as Team Rocket, whose primary goal is world domination. However, for these three, the main goal would be to try and capture Pikachu at whatever cost, in order to gain appeasement from The Boss. Both Jessie and James were wearing the basic Rocket uniform of a white uniform with a red R on the chest area, with black boots and gloves as well, the only difference was whilst James covered his whole body, Jessie had her midriff bare and her lower thighs as well.

"If you three really believe that this time is any different than last time, then you are sorely mistaken" proclaimed Ash as he took a stance that signified that he wouldn't back down, his past thoughts forgotten at the moment. Simultaneously, Pikachu had leapt down from Ash's right shoulder onto all fours, with his electric pouches crackling with electricity, ready for a fight. "Now let go of that Pokémon before I have to make you" Ash proclaimed to the trio of crooks in front of him.

"If you really think that that is going to happen, then you really haven't learnt much over these years have you twerp" Jessie exclaimed whilst laughing at Ash's last statement, whilst preparing a Poké ball for battle. "Now Seviper, teach little Pikachu a lesson". Upon Jessie's statement, her Poké ball released its contents, and eight foot long black and purple serpent, with blood red fangs, a blood red sword shaped tale, with yellow motifs dotted along the serpents' body.

"You too Cacnea, show them your stuff" James shouted also joining in on double teaming Ash. The Pokémon released looked like a squat green cactus, with stubby arms and legs, although at first glance, the arms do look like they could pack a punch.

"SEVIPER"

"CACNEA"

CRASH

"NO CACNEA, SHOW THEM YOUR STUFF, NOT ME!" James explained loudly to his overly affectionate grass type. Once he was separated from his grass type, the battle had begun. "Now Cacnea, use Needle Arm"

"Seviper, use Poison Tail"

Both Pokémon charged up their attacks respectively, Cacnea's arm shining with a pale green energy, and Seviper's tail being coated with Seviper's natural venomous energy. Both Pokémon then converged onto Pikachu, who had moved forward so that Ash was less likely to be hit in the ensuing battle. Despite the 2 on 1 battle Pikachu kept up a look of serious determination, not afraid in the slightest.

"Pikachu, charge forward with Quick Attack, and then turn and hit them with a Thunderbolt" Ash quickly ordered as Seviper and Cacnea closed in. Moments later, Pikachu had zoomed passed the two Rocket Pokémon, followed by a white streak that had almost left an after image, causing them to hit the ground where Pikachu had just been. Pikachu then quickly delivered a return Thunderbolt, charging his body with his natural electrical energy and then firing said energy at the two Rocket Pokémon in the form of a lightning bolt. The counter attack caused substantially damage to the two Rocket Pokémon, a fact which did not escape the two Rocket grunts.

"Grrrrr, Seviper use Bite"

"Cacnea, another Needle Arm"

"Pikachu use Quick Attack again, and intercept them both with Iron Tail"

"PIKA" was all Ash received as not a second later, Pikachu was in front of the opposing Pokémon, who had not yet orienteered themselves for their trainers current orders, and had smashed them with Iron tail, leading to both of them to land back at their trainers feet. Despite the damage received, both Pokémon where still willing to go, but the battle was showing immensely on the two rocket Pokémon, with bruising and scorch marks aplenty on both of them. The fact that they were losing so badly so quickly only seemed to anger the criminal trio. IF you listened closely, you could hear the grinding of teeth as Jessie was glaring at the young trainer in front of her. "Alright twerp, if that's the way you want to play it, then let's go…."

"What's going on here…? Wait Electivire!"

The sudden intrusion open the battle was noted by everyone present turning their heads to where the slightly nasally voice had come from, where atop the cliff, was a young boy, slightly older than Ash, who had very spikey brown hair, a slightly paler complexion than Ash. He was wearing a black T-shirt, purple trousers and black trainers. His face was a mixture on confusion towards the battle, recognition over who was battling, and then anger over way they were battling. It was none other than Gary Oak, Grandson and researcher assistant to Professor Oak and Ash's old rival/childhood friend.

"OH NO, IT'S THE REASERCHER TWERP" Meowth exclaimed to his partners as he saw and recognised the new person who had entered this conflict.

"What the hell are you three doing to my Pokémon!?" Gary demanded of the trio of crooks he recognised as being thorns in Ash's sided for the last 3 years. He only received a snide response from James in return. "Isn't it obvious, we are stealing your rare and valuable Pokémon, and soon we be taking Pikachu as well, along with any other Pokémon that you have on you"

"You three losers have been trying to take the same Pikachu for 3 years, nearly FOUR years in a few months" Gary retorted to the criminal trio. "By now, you could have caught your own Pikachu, trained it, evolved it into a Raichu, find a nice mate for your Raichu, and be now training the young Pichu that would've been hatched". As Gary logically explained the stupidity of their actions towards trailing the same Pikachu for years, Ash and said Pikachu were watching dumbfounded as what was once a relatively tense Pokémon battle devolved into a shouting match between Team Rocket and Gary Oak. Fortunately, Ash has always known when to take advantage of the field when it best arises.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail to get that Pokémon out of its netting, then get ready a Thunderbolt for when I say" Ash spoke quietly to Pikachu so as to not draw the crooks attention. Ash was answered with a quiet 'Pi' as Pikachu quickly but quietly bounded over to the suffering Pokémon, whilst simultaneously charging an Iron Tail to cut through the netting. As Ash glanced back over to the full blown argument that was now occurring, he saw Gary give him a subtle nod of both appreciation of what Ash was doing and understanding of what was going to happen. Ash returned said nod before turning his eye back onto Pikachu, to make sure that Pikachu was having no trouble with the net. Low and behold, he wasn't and the Pokémon, now identified as an Electivire, was looking ecstatic at getting out so that he could pay back the crooks for ruining his lunch.

"You don't know what we have been through trying to get that Pikachu" was the dramatic response that James replied with whilst all this was happening.

"You wouldn't have to go through anything if you had just think things through once in a while" Gary once again logically argued to the Rocket trio. Of course, it went through one ear and out the other.

"Dat Pikachu is a one in a million prize. It's very special, and the Boss would love to have it" Meowth tried to argue back.

"That Pikachu is only special because Ash as trained it so well, and just another note, you three really are extraordinarily dumb"

"What did you say you little Twerp" was Jessie's' shrill reply when she heard the insult.

"I mean whilst we have been having this fantastically invigorated argument" Gary calmly replied with a sarcastic drawl. "Ash has been freeing Electivire from your netting, and now it wants revenge" As Gary stated this, the blood in the three crooks ran cold as they turned around to see Ash smirking triumphantly at the trio, whilst flanked by two Pokémon, Pikachu on his right and Electivire on his left, both supporting equally smug grins as the air around them crackled with electricity. The three Rockets gulped as they knew what was coming next, whilst Seviper and Cacnea sighed in disappointment at their trainer's massive blunder.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt"

"Electivire, use Thunderbolt"

"PIKAAAACHUUUUUU"

"ELECTIVVVVIRRRREEEEEE"

As both Pallet town natives ordered their Pokémon to attack simultaneously, both Pokémon unleashed a full on Thunderbolt, each, which caused a massive explosion, causing Team Rocket to once again, blast off.

A few minutes later, Gary joins our heroes in the clearing at the bottom of the cliff, and immediately sets to work to see if Electivire had suffered any damage whilst temporarily captured. Thankfully, apart from some minor bruising, there was nothing to be afraid of.

"You sure you're alright Electivire?" Gary questioned his Pokémon, worried he may be hiding something due to a sense of pride.

"Elect"

"Well, if you say you're alright, then fine, but you are still getting checked out once we get back to Gramps Lab"

"Electivire" Electivire seemed quite resigned to some unknown fate. What the others didn't know was that Electivire wasn't all that fond of the old man. He didn't like it when he was introduced to him and then the old man started to get a bit too close to Electivire in order to try and examine the new, exotic Pokémon.

Whilst Electivire was sulking, Gary turned to the person who he had to thank for rescuing his Pokémon, his old rival and oldest childhood friend.

"Well Ash, thanks for saving Electivire, I could have saved him myself, but thanks all the same"

"Sure Gary, whatever you say" Ash stated with a small smile at his friends apparent arrogance, which to him was typical Gary, which just meant that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"So Ashy Boy, what do you think of the newest member of team Gary" Gary stated this whilst gesturing to Electivire, who had come out of his funk, and was introducing himself to Pikachu a few metres away from the trainer and the researcher.

"Let's see, you called it Electivire, didn't you" As Ash pondered this he reached into his back pocket to retrieve his Pokédex to gain information on this new Pokémon. However, Ash was in for a bit of a surprise.

"ERROR, NO DATA AVAILABLE"

"Come on Ashy boy, use your head" Gary said, taunting Ash with this challenged. Unfortunately, he didn't get the usual rise he would normally get from Ash, as Ash was too busy staring at Electivire contemplatively.

"Well, it sort of looks like an Electabuzz, only larger. Is it some sort of relation, like why Gengar's look similar to Clefable's?"

"Nope, you are right though, it is related to Electabuzz. This is the evolved form of Electabuzz, Electivire. You can only evolve them by using an Electirizer, an item you can so far only get in the Sinnoh region"

"Sinnoh region?"

"Yeah it's a region quite a ways north that has its own Pokémon league, its own elite four and champion, and it even has its own contest circuit as well. Think of it as being a much colder Hoenn region"

"Wow, another region" Ash stated forlornly, almost wanting to go there immediately, before reminding himself that he had stuff to do at Pallet town first.

"Okay Ash calm down would you" Gary stated sarcastically after seeing his old rivals face turn from curiosity and wonder towards a new region turn into quite a pained expression.

"Huh, oh, sorry Gary, I kinda zoned out for a while there" Ash said whilst chuckling in order to hide his thought process. Ash then thought of why Gary was in the forest, so decided to ask his friend. "Why are you here anyway Gary?"

"I figured you would be along this way heading back home, so I have been scouring the area for days now, waiting for you numbskull"

"Really. Why." Stated a confused Ash over the reason for his friend's appearance in the forest.

"To congratulate you privately on your victory over the Battle Frontier stupid" As Gary said this, he saw Ash's face once again twist into a pained expression, which was starting to greatly worry the researcher. "Okay Ash, what's wrong?"

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"That's twice now you've zoned out on me, both times with a pained expression on your face, so what's wrong?"

Ash knew that he would have to confront someone about this sooner or later, and he figured that Gary could be just as good as Professor Oak at possibly solving this.

"Gary, do you think that I did right by starting again in Hoenn?"

 **Additional Notes: Okay, so first things first, when you review this, please be gently with me, this is my first story, so try to be constructive in your criticisms. Secondly, I'm British. Doesn't seem like an issue, but this is just a heads up before any of you say that "You've spelt color wrong!" I haven't, I've just spelt it as** **colour** **with a u because I'm British. If you don't know otherwise, that's fine, and if I have spelt something wrong, please do let me know. Otherwise, I hope this has caught your interest, and I hope you stick around for more.**


	2. Chapter 2: Home Again

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 2: Home Again**

" _Gary, do you think that I did right by starting again in Hoenn?"_

Gary was confused by this question, because he knew Ash, and he knows that when Ash has made up his mind, nothing short of Arceus would change his mind.

"Ash…what's brought this question about?" he queried, wondering why Ash was thinking along this line of thought. "Gary, I had to use my four most experienced Pokémon in order to defeat Brandon."

"Yeah….so?"

"Even though Sceptile and Torkoal apparently but up good fights against Brandon in the our other matches, I brushed them aside and instead of training them that little bit more, I focused on more experienced Pokémon, and even then, it nearly wasn't enough to win, because instead of taking them with me to Hoenn, I left them here, not even thinking about them"

' _Ah'_ he thought. _'So that's what Ash is worried about. He feels as if he has let down all of his Pokémon, both old and new, in regards to his training methods. This is a job for Gramps'_

"Ash, I haven't seen you train your Pokémon, nor have I seen you interact with your Pokémon, aside from Pikachu. As such I cannot tell answer your question to your satisfaction." As he said this, he saw Ash's face seem to turn into resignation as to what he was saying. "If I am right into why you are thinking this, then you are making a mountain out of a molehill, and I am sure Gramps will agree with me" Ash's head shot up and began glaring at Gary, for daring to say that his problems are not as important as they seem. Before Ash could get into a tirade, Gary placed a placating hand up to stall Ash before he got started. "That being said, lets head back to Pallet, and we will have a talk with Gramps about this, Okay" that seemed to make Ash cool down, as he nodded forlornly and began heading back down the path that lead to Pallet with Pikachu close behind. Pikachu did at least send a grateful look back to Gary for trying to bring Ash out of his funk.

Electivire looked confused about the whole conversation. How could this boy, who had just saved his life, and command a little Pikachu successfully against 2 to 1 odds, consider himself a bad trainer.

"Electiv"

"I don't know Electivire, I do think Ash is a good trainer, certainly capable of being one of the best there is, but I think he is making this problem seem much bigger than it actually is"

"Elec Electivire"

"Trust me Electivire, if you knew the real Ash, you would have said the same thing"

"Tivire"

"Gramps can help with this, I overheard him talking to Charles Goodshow the other night when Ms Ketchum brought that package that had Ash's name on it during the day. Ash's name came up quite a few times as they both praised Ash's achievements."

"Elec?"

"Oh believe me when I say Ash is accomplished, but you'll have to wait until we get back to the Lab before you find out. Electivire, Return"

Gary fished out Electivire's Poké Ball and returned the large electric type, before seeing that Ash was quite a way ahead, with Pikachu once again on Ash's right shoulder. Seeing that he was quite a ways away, and more than likely lost in his own little world, Gary fished out his Poké Nav and scrolled down to his contacts and hit 1 on speed dial. After waiting a little while, someone answered on the other end.

"Hi Gramps, its Gary. Gramps, I've just met up with Ash and Pikachu and we're on our way back now, but you're going to need your teacher face, as Ash needs a good talking to"

After a giving the heads up to his grandfather, and a very awkward conversation between to two former rivals, where Gary would ask about Ash's Hoenn and Kanto journey, but would only receive one worded answers, the two boys, who could both be considered the pride of Pallet, had arrived home. Instead of heading straight to his house, Gary dragged Ash to the Professors Lab, stating that his mother, Delia Ketchum would be there to greet him. They both passed through the town, and many of the residents about would welcome Ash home, some would even congratulate him on a job well done with the Battle Frontier. They would however, be confused when the response back seemed very forced, almost last minute, as Ash's mind was elsewhere. Gary and Pikachu could only offer apologetic smiles and reasons as to why, so that none of the residents thought that Ash was being ungrateful. They knew the sooner that they get to the Lab and Professor Oak, the sooner Ash can apologize for himself. The residents where greatly confused, as to why the happy, go lucky boy that had left Pallet not a few months ago was now in what some considered quite a depressive state.

Eventually the trio made it the Lab and by extension, the Oak corral. The Oak corral stretched over for many miles in every direction, and included many different environments to house the many different species of Pokémon that either lived here naturally, or because their trainers had placed them here so that they don't have to stay in suspended animation inside their Poké Balls in a PC or in a bag. Upon climbing the steps to the Lab, Gary opening the door for Ash and Pikachu, and led them to the lobby. When the trio entered, they were met with the smell of freshly made tea and three people. The first was a tall boy sitting on the left couch, slightly older than Ash and Gary, with longish green wear that covered a red headband, a green baggy t-shirt with red shorts and purple trainers. He had a complexion similar to Gary, but was also a bit stockier as well. This was Professor Oaks assistant, and former traveling companion of Ash, Tracey Sketchit. The second person was sitting on the right couch on the right hand side. She was tall woman with long brown hair tied into a ponytail that hung down her back. She was wearing a yellow blouse with a pink overall jacket, and a purple skirt that went down to her knees, with white flat shoes. She too had quite a pale complexion, but her face had turned towards Ash the moment he entered, into a face of worry. This was Delia Ketchum, Ash's mother. The final person was also sitting on the right couch but on the left side instead. He was the same height as Delia, and his aged face was also contorted into one of worry towards Ash. He was wearing a red shirt and beige trousers with brown shoes and a white laboratory coat that designated his status as a Pokémon professor. This was Samuel Oak, the Kanto regions head Pokémon professor, and sponsor to Ash Ketchum's Pokémon journey.

Let it be known that Ash wasn't dumb in the sense that he didn't know why they were there or why they looked so worried. He knew that Gary had called ahead and told them to get ready for his problem, which he still saw as a massive problem despite Gary's insistence that he was making a 'mountain out of a molehill'. He wasn't mad at Gary for doing this, in some ways he was actually rather grateful that Gary had done this, as it meant that Ash could lay it down in one session instead of constantly repeating. As such, he took a deep breath and with as much humour as he could muster "Hi mom, I'm home".

Delia could only smile tightly at his remark, but before she could reply, she heard a coughing sound from her left, signifying that Professor Oak was drawing everyone's attention. "Welcome home Ash, I trust there were no complications getting here from where I last saw you" the professor stated whilst looking at Ash.

"No professor, nothing that I couldn't handle."

"Good, now if I'm correct in saying, you seem to have found yourself in a bit of a conundrum concerning the way you train your Pokémon"

"Something like that Professor"

"Hmmm…Tracey, take Ash's Pokémon that he has on him, excluding Pikachu, and take them outside to reintegrate themselves with the rest of Ash's team. Afterward, please manage the Lab for me, and if anyone calls, tell them that I am busy with one of my sponsored trainers"

"Yes Professor" Tracey replied, whilst getting up from the couch he was on. Upon walking towards Ash, he received Ash's Pokémon from his belt, and proceeded to release them outside, so that they could meet up with the other members of Ash's team. He gave Ash and Gary a nod and smile in order to say welcome back, which was returned by both boys. Afterwards, he left to complete his tasks and manage the Lab whilst the others had their talk. Whilst he wished he could be there for Ash, he knew that he could just get in the way, and besides, those three had known him a lot longer than he had.

 **Additional Notes: This chapter and the next are going to be a bit more on the angst side for a simple reason. Teenagers, especially ones going through puberty, tend to make everything seem worse than it actually is, like a first world problem. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just a part of growing up, which in later years makes us want to punch our younger selves for acting so stupid. Anyone? No? Just me then? Alright, fair play. Please leave a review and I'll see you next time.**


	3. Chapter 3: A Professor's Logic

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 3: Professors Logic**

A few minutes after Tracey had left, all occupants of the lobby had settled down in their seats, with Delia and Professor Oak still in their seats when Ash and Gary walked in, with Pikachu situated in Delia's lap, who was absently petting the electric type, Gary seated across from her on the left couch, and Ash sitting across from Professor Oak on the left couch. It seemed that there was an unspoken agreement that it would be the Professor that started the ensuing conversation. After spending a few moments looking at Ash and his current mood set, Professor Oak had decided that it would be best to start this conversation now.

"Now Ash, what's this I hear about thinking that you did wrong by not taking any of your non-Hoenn Pokémon to Hoenn" Ash in return just sighed heavily before giving a similar argument that he gave to Gary back in the forest. "Professor, it took me three times to defeat Brandon, the first time was when Sceptile went up against Regirock. Now I know that I was possessed at the time, but in a straight up fight, I was told Sceptile did rather well against Regirock. The second time I used Torkoal against Brandon's Registeel, and once again, Torkoal may have lost, but he also did a very good job as well. And what did I do afterwards, I moped around for a few days, and when I came out of that mood, instead of taking Sceptile and Torkoal for some specialised training, I called forward my 4 most experienced Pokémon in order to train for Brandon, effectively stating to the two that they weren't good enough"

"Okay, I can understand how that can make you feel down, you feel as if you have let your Pokémon down as well, but I don't understand how calling forward your most experienced Pokémon would be a bad thing as well"

"Because it nearly wasn't enough!" Ash damn near shouted at the professor, who he, along with everyone else, seemed shocked at Ash's outburst. Ash seemed to calm down, and reasoned his outburst much more calmly. "A few months ago, Charizard went one on one with a Legendary Articuno, and won. This time however, he lost to a Dusclops because I was arrogant enough to call for him to use a fighting type move against a ghost type. And while the same thing didn't happen with Bulbasaur and Squirtle, there was another issue. Because I hadn't used them in a battle scenario for more than a year, they weren't as quick or as agile as they used to be. I understand that they have other responsibilities now, Squirtle with the Squirtle Squad and Bulbasaur keeps the peace here, but what about the others, like Cyndaquil or Bayleef. Heck, I haven't even done any training or travelling with Muk or Snorlax, or even the Tauros that I use." Ash seemed to grow louder as he stated his reasoning with everyone's face taking a look of consideration about what Ash was saying. Ash continued his argument with "That's why I want to know if I am a good trainer, because the way I see it, I am possible one of the worst there is"

Upon Ash's closing remarks, Delia almost gasped in shock, with Gary raising his eyebrows in similar shock, and Pikachu looking upon his partner with worry, accompanied with a soft 'Pikapi' to go with it. Professor Oak however still had a look of seriousness as he listened to Ash's reasoning behind his new belief. After waiting a few moments for the young boy in front of him to simmer down, Oak began his counter argument.

"Ash, when Gary called ahead to warn us about your current mind-set, he used the phrase, making a mountain out of a molehill. I wholeheartedly agree with him." Oak quickly place a placating hand to stall Ash from aggressively standing his ground. "I am not saying that this isn't a problem that we shouldn't address, I am just saying that his problem is no more than a minor hiccup in your journey, and it is best that we look into it know before it gets worse. The only way we can do that is if you calm down and try to be a bit more open minded about our counter arguments, okay" As Oak finished his statement, he saw Ash close his eyes and take a deep breath, which almost instantly removed a lot of the visible tension that could be seen. Such an action did seem to alleviate the mood in the room, especially the moods coming from Delia and Pikachu. After a few moments, Ash opened his eyes and looked as Professor Oak with a state of eerily calmness that Ash wasn't generally known for. "Okay Professor, what do you think?"

"You say that Sceptile and Torkoal had extremely good battles against Brandon, but still lost in the end. And you then say that instead of training them, you effectively pushed them to one side, correct?" At Ash's confused nod, Oak decided to ask him a simple question. "But did you do that willingly?" As Ash, was about to answer, he hesitated, think that no he, didn't do it willingly. "See Ash, while I do believe that after a few training session, Sceptile and Torkoal would be able to go up against the two legendary Golems again, I don't think they would have been able to in the timeframe you had set up. I think you subconsciously knew this, hence why you didn't use them again" In Ash's mind, everything the Professor had just said made so much sense. He would never willing push his Pokémon to one side to favour another, he just couldn't see it happening. "I guess that makes sense Professor."

"Good, one point down. Now you then say that he instead turned to your most experienced Pokémon in order to help fight Brandon. Ash, don't feel bad about this, many a trainer do this when they are not sure of how to beat their opponent using strategy, so they go back to basics of more experience means more strength" Again, Ash found himself nodding, Professor Oaks logical reasoning made so much sense, that was the reason why he had brought those four back together, wasn't it.

"The third point you mentioned was that you felt as if you were arrogant enough to call for Charizard to use Seismic Toss against a ghost type, and ineffective move. Ash, mistakes happen, even amongst champion and elites, so don't get too hung up about this. However your final point about being worried if your other Pokémon may have suffered because you haven't trained or travelled with them in over a year, I think that as long as I am being honest with you, and you think that this tactic isn't working I will continue onwards, okay?" At Ash's hesitant nod, Oak took a deep breath and started on the point he was going to make. "When you told me that you were going to effectively start again with only Pikachu, I was both immensely proud, but also a little hesitant at the idea. I thought that I would be a good idea, especially because it meant that you would have to focus on your Pokémon you caught there, instead of what you already have. However, I was worried about what this would mean for your Pokémon here, whether they would suffer or not because of your lack of contact or something. I never said anything as nothing every came up, everyone was fine with just staying here. Also, this is your journey, if I told you how to do your own journey exactly as I did mine, you wouldn't enjoy it as much as you already have done. And between you and me Ash, some of the things you have seen, many others will never experience beyond a TV" Again, Ash could only find himself nodding to Professor Oaks arguments. It was his journey, and if he felt that he needed to switch gears, then he should, not just mope around instead. Professor Oak seemed to read his mind as he continued his point. "If you feel as if you should change up how you continue your journey, then that's entirely up to you, but to make a long point short Ash, I don't think you are a good trainer, I KNOW that you are a prodigy of a trainer, and if you think you need to improve a part of your journey, then you are one step closer to becoming a Pokémon master" The end point of this argument was also accompanied by a usual sense of Oak passion, with the Professors typically inane grin spreading across his face, whilst gesturing wildly.

As Delia, Gary and Pikachu looked at the Professor in bemusement because of his antics, Ash was in deep thought over everything Professor Oak had just said, knowing it all to be absolutely true. Thus, Ash started chuckling to himself that drew everyone's attention towards Ash once again. Ash then said seven words in good humour that made everyone know that everything was going to be okay.

"I've been acting pretty stupid, haven't I?"

 **Additional Notes: Again, bit of teenage angst in this chapter, sorry about that. There should be no more angst until way into Sinnoh. As always, leave a review on how to make the story better, and I'll see you next time.**


	4. Chapter 4: Some Special Prizes

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 4: Some special prizes**

After Ash's last statement, soon everyone was laughing, including Ash as well. Soon afterwards Tracey came back in saying that the Pokémon Ash had on his person had all settled in nicely and that nothing had happened during the talk. Delia then decided that then would be good time to begin dinner. Soon, all six current occupants were gathered around the dinner table for some of Delia's home-made cooking, the same type that has made her restaurant one of the best in Kanto. After settling down with some Carbonara, Professor Oak decided that he should get started on getting Ash to possibly rethink his training regime.

"So Ash my boy, what do you think you need to change with your training regime?" After swallowing his current mouthful of pasta, Ash began answering with a usual exuberance that he is known for.

"Well, first of all, I was thinking of just spending a few weeks, maybe a month or more, training with everyone who are already here, and maybe even calling Squirtle and Charizard back, and seeing if maybe Primeape, Haunter and even Pidgeot would like to come back. They don't have to stay, but it would be good to get everyone together again" Every time Ash had completed a league or a 'mini' league, Ash had always rang up the Saffron Gym, Antony, the Squirtle squad and the Charcific Valley just to see how all of his old team members were doing. He even paid a quick visit to the forest on Route 1 to see if Pidgeot was doing okay. Suffice to say, Ash was always pleased that they were doing well. However, he had failed to contact any of them when Ash returned after his Hoenn run, due to the Battle Frontier, but he was willing to amend that now.

"So your think of just catching everyone up in regards to training?" Oak queried.

"Yeah, and also so that everyone can benefit from one another. I know Kingler can help Corphish with a few moves, and Pidgeot can help with Swellow and Noctowl. And I know that after spending 3 years as the P1 champion, Primeape can help Heracross out with some fighting type moves"

"Sounds like a plan, what are you going to do afterwards though?"

"Well I am thinking of heading out to Sinnoh and competing in there regional tournament. In regards to how I am going to do that, I want to do a little of what I did in Hoenn with a little of what I did in Johto, meaning that I want to take all my old Pokémon with me so that I can keep training them and keep them fit, but in terms of actual gym battles and smaller tournaments before the league, I just want to use the Pokémon that I catch in Sinnoh"

"I see, so any new Pokémon you catch can gain the experience of all your old Pokémon, and then be able to gain battle experience as well. Seems like a good plan"

Yeah, the only downside is that with a six Pokémon limit, it's going to require a lot of juggling between Pokémon"

"That shouldn't be an issue my boy"

"Really why?"

"A few days after you won in the Battle Frontier, You received a package from the Pokémon League sweetie" Delia answered Ash's question, and then continued at Ash's confused look. "I took it to Professor Oak as quick as I could so he could have a look at it"

"I did open it for you Ash, as it did seem quite hefty when Delia gave it to me, I hope that's alright?"

"That's fine Professor, but what was it?"

"I'll go get it Professor" Tracey interjected before Professor Oak could answer Ash's question.

"Oh thank you Tracey, It should be on my desk by those Pokémon reports" After seeing Tracey's confirmation, Oak turned back to Ash to explain what was happening. "You see Ash, whilst you were in Hoenn, the worldwide Pokémon league found out that Trainers found the lull period between leagues to be quite dull, as nothing was on. All the leagues had wrapped up by then, and they weren't starting up again until September. As such, they decided to setup 'mini' or 'summer' leagues as they were called. As such, for Kanto, they decided that the Orange league that you took part in would be the Kanto summer league, and as you were the last winner before Drake, they decided to make your victory over him, official in the eyes of the league. And after your win at the Battle Frontier, as well as several recommendations from various people, the Pokémon league decided that you were trustworthy enough for a special privilege. Ah, thank you Tracey" As Professor Oak finished his explanation and Tracey handed him what must've been the package, Ash's mind was a whirl as to what this totalled up to. What would the privilege be? And how would this help with his new training program? Ash was brought out of his thoughts when the Professor handed him the package.

"Here you go Ash. I trust you won't be disappointed." Ash slowly took out whatever contents were in the package, and began to read the letter on top.

 _Dear Ash Satoshi Ketchum_

 _Because of your wins at the Orange League and the Kanto Battle Frontier, your recent placings at the Ever Grande Conference, and acting upon the recommendation of several individuals, we have decided to award you the Rank of Ace Trainer._

 _Enclosed you will find an official certificate that states this. Please do not lose this as this is proof of your rank. You will also find several items from people who wished to send letters and items of congratulations._

 _We hope you find this news pleasing. Keep up the good work._

 _Yours Sincerely._

 _The Pokémon League._

 _Signed_

 _Charles Goodshow._

Remember when Gary was stunned when Ash asked him that fateful question earlier today. Well now the tables had turned and Ash sat their absolutely stunned. He was now an Ace trainer. This meant so many things can change now, for the better. Numbly, Ash placed the letter to one side to look at the certificate. It was printed on fancy vinyl paper, with the faded Pokémon league symbol in the background, whilst the foreground showed that Ash Ketchum was an official Ace trainer. Ash placed that to one side as well to see what else was in the package. Onto his lap fell another letter and a smallish box, the size of a Rubik's Cube, as well. Looking at both the letter and the strange package, he decided to look at the letter first to see what was written to him.

 _Dear Ash_

 _I hope this letter finds you in good health. I would like to congratulate you on becoming an Ace trainer. It is a Privilege, and I trust you know what it means. If not, it basically means that you effectively an honorary G-men, as Ace trainers do go on to be G-men. Normally people don't become G-men until they turn 21, so you'll be an Ace trainer for a while. It also means that if you show your Pokédex to any official, they will recognise you and whist in the area may also come to you for assistance._

 _Because you_ _will_ _be doing this (especially with your Track record of_ _getting involved when you shouldn't have_ _) you are now able to carry up to 12 Pokémon. This is a big part of being an Ace trainer, as quite a few have proven in the past to be unable to have the responsibility of caring for 12 Pokémon at once, and thus, they were demoted as it were. I hope you are up to the challenge as it is a big one. You will also be expected to continue to adhere to Pokémon league rules i.e. no bringing in 12 Pokémon for an official 6 on 6 fit, as you will be severely penalised if you do._

 _Other than those changes, you can continue your journey as you had planned, you are just now a person of authority, not much, but enough to take notice off. You represent the Pokémon league now, so don't show us up._

 _Included is a prototype model of an Xtransceiver. This is a style of watch that can act as a map, a video phone, a watch and a Pokédex. This particular model has also been installed with a Pokémon transporter, so you can transport your synced up Pokémon between your and Oaks Corral easily. Just make sure you call first so the Professor can get the Pokémon you want ready, so you don't receive an empty Pokéball. This is very expensive, so try not to lose it._

 _Hope to see you soon_

 _Lance Wataru_

Once again, Ash was stunned with the revelation of what being an Ace trainer meant. It was a way he can now more easily transfer his Pokémon over, and given how many times he had been involved in certain events, it even now gave him a bit more authority to act on those situations. As the information sank in, he looked up at his mother, Gary and Professor Oak, all of whom seemed to know what Ash, just found out. It was then that Ash knew that everything was going up from here on out.

 **Additional Notes: Wanted a way to give Ash a bigger team than just giving him a bigger team, so decided being an Ace trainer was the best way to do so. Also figured there must be a screening process to become a G-man, so I formulated what seemed to be the easiest way to do so. As always, leave a review and if you want, ask a question about this story.**


	5. Chapter 5: Gathering the Rest

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 5: Gathering the rest**

After receiving the package from the Pokémon league, Ash, his mother, Gary, Professor Oak and Tracey all celebrated for a bit on Ash's accomplishment before Ash and Delia decided to head home. Deciding to head out the back door so that Ash could say goodnight to the Pokémon now staying at the corral, Ash and Delia decided to head on home.

They were about halfway home when Delia decided to spring up a conversation with her son. "So you are sure you're okay now sweetie?"

"Yeah mom, I don't know why I started to think like that, but it's gone now and I'm ready to start my new training regime"

"That's good, I don't want to have to drag you back to the Professor just because you had a relapse"

"Jeez mom, you make it sound like I've committed a terrible crime"

"Doubting yourself is always a crime, it just sometimes never goes unpunished"

"Mom, I'm fine, you can relax now, I feel better now thanks to the Professor, and especially because now I am an Ace trainer!" Ash displayed his usual exuberance with a celebratory fist bump to the sky, accompanied by a similar pose by Pikachu, with a complementary 'Pika!'

"Well, just don't let it go to your head, or I will make sure that it is revoked" A more sombre Ash replied "Yes Mom"

After a while, the trio arrived back at the Ketchum residence, a smallish house with a white overcoat, and a red roof. It encompassed two stories, and a fairly large, but well-kept garden. It didn't seem like much to a passer-by, but to the Ketchum's it was home. Upon entering, the trio were met with the fourth resident of the house. This was a pink and white, humanoid Pokémon, standing at four feet tall, with gangly limbs, and its' feet and ears being a blue. It looked very similar to a Mime you would see at the circus. This was Mimey, Delia's Mr Mime, who would help Delia out with housekeeping, especially when Delia was at the restaurant. Upon seeing who had entered the premises, Mimey greeting them with excitement.

"Mime, Mr Mime"

"It's good to see you to Mimey" Ash greeted the psychic type fondly, with Pikachu also greeting him as well.

"Mimey, we're all of to bed now, so finish up and get some sleep" Delia said kindly to Mr Mime, who agreed with a yawn.

"Mom, right Pikachu, we've had a long day, and a just as long one tomorrow and maybe the next month, we better get as much shut eye as we can get buddy"

"Pika"

Soon, everyone in the Ketchum household was fast asleep and for one aspiring Pokémon master and new promoted Ace trainer, his dreams were filled with all the different ways he can finally become a Pokémon master.

The next morning, everyone in the household was up by 8:00. Ash had theorized that by waking up early, he could get more done in the day. Thankfully, his new Xtransceiver also functioned as an alarm, so Ash was able to put that to good use. Everyone was now sitting around the family table, digging in to a hearty breakfast. Delia was just cleaning up her cooking, whilst Mimey prepared to clean up the dishes. Ash and Pikachu was just cleaning up the rest of the leftovers when a thought struck to Ash. "Hey mom, would it be possible for you to teach me how to cook?"

"Certainly Ash, but why?"

"I was just thinking that Brocks cooking is brilliant, but it could never compare to yours, and that I have been extremely lucky to have Brock on my travels, as he could cook for us. He may not come to Sinnoh with me, so I feel it is better to be prepared than to starve"

"We would have to do it in the mornings and the evenings only, especially if I'm at the restaurant and you're at the Lab all day, but I think I can have you fully trained in no time!"

"I look forward to it Chef" Ash teased his mother in little of his mother's excitement of teaching her son. He looked down at his Xtransceiver to see the time was nearly 8:30.

"I'd better head of now, see you later mom"

"See you tonight for your first lesson"

In about 20 minutes, Ash had made it to the Corral, where he saw Tracey feeding some of the local Pokémon. "Hey Tracey"

"Hmm, oh, Hi Ash, you're here early than expected" Tracey replied see his friend hop over the fence.

"I figured that I could get more done in a day if I got here earlier. Say Tracey, where would my Pokémon all be at?"

"Oh here, there everywhere. I honestly couldn't tell you. All I can tell you is that Bulbasaur is usual just by that pond there" Tracey finished his statement pointing down the high to a medium sized pond that ran into the rivers leading into the ocean. Following Tracey's finger, Ash saw the pond, and an out of place bulb that was quite stationary. Ash immediately knew that this was one of his oldest and most loyal Pokémon, Bulbasaur. After saying his thanks to Tracey, who continued with his duties, Ash quickly walked down the hill to his loyal Grass type.

"Hey, Bulbasaur!"

"Pika!" Upon hearing the two very familiar cries, Bulbasaur woke up and noticed two of his closest friends, and decided to greet them with similar enthusiasm. "Bulba!"

"Hey Bulbasaur, it's great to see you again" Ash said fondly to the grass type, whilst watching Pikachu and Bulbasaur greet each other. "Hey Bulbasaur, do you know how to get everyone else to one spot, I think we need a group talk" Bulbasaur replied with an affirmative nod, and then seemed to charge up a Solar beam, but releasing it early, causing a ball of light to be launched and then explode high in the sky, looking and sounding similar to a firework. Within a few short minutes, every single one of Ash's Pokémon had turned up, from the loyal Bulbasaur and affectionate Bayleef, to the energetic Totodile and even the sleepy Snorlax. The only problem Ash could see was that only one of his 30 Tauros had shown up, his main one he always used. He could see the other 29 stampeding in the distance, so he decided to ask both Tauros and Professor Oak about that later, once he told everyone else the plan for the next month.

"Okay everyone, I've decided that with our recent victory over the Battle Frontier and the Pokémon league deciding to make me an Ace trainer, we are going to kick our training into top gear!" Ash's statement was met with many ecstatic cries and nods as everyone seemed to like the idea. "We are going to spend the next month training until we drop, but before we do, I am just going to make a few calls to get other members of our team here, and to see if some other members want to re-join us, even if it is just for the month" Ash was meet with further nods from the group. "Okay, so before I do go and make those calls', I want you all too just spar with one another, test each other's reflexes, speed, strength, defences and so on. We're not going into full on battles just yet, not until we know what we need to improve upon. Bulbasaur, can you be in charge until I get back. Just make sure no-one goes too far, and so that anyone who is injured can be quickly brought up to the Lab for treatment okay"

After seeing Bulbasaur's affirmative nod, Ash turned around and started to walk back to the Lab. Turning back halfway, he saw that Bulbasaur had recruited Noctowl and Bayleef to keep an eye on things, whilst he only had a couple Pokémon go at one another at a time. He saw that Sceptile and Heracross were up first, with Donphan and Tauros up next. He also saw Totodile, Corphish and Aipom having a 'dance' off just to the side of the proceedings.

After making his way into the Lab, he saw Professor Oak, reading on the computer. He decided to ask now about the other Tauros. "Hey Professor, when I got all my Pokémon together, only one of my Tauros turned up, the main one I use, whilst the rest just kept on stampeding, do you know what's happened"

"I think that may be slightly my fault, as because you only use one Tauros, I placed a sticker on that one's Pokéball so that I wouldn't forget. I have been meaning to ask you about your 30 Tauros, and seeing what you want doing with them. I was going to offer you the chance to transfer them over to me, so that they would still be here, they would just officially be under my care"

"I'll have a word with them quickly about that and see what they want first, if that's alright Professor"

"That's alright my boy, they are your Pokémon, but the offer still stands, unless you find a better one. Now I believe you have some calls to make, don't you?"

"Yeah, that's right, do you mind if I use the phone to make them"

"Not at all, I was also going to ask about borrowing your new Xtransceiver, so that I can familiarise myself with its settings, and set it up for you, i.e. put mine and your mothers contacts in, as well as sync up all your Pokémon as well so you can transport them"

"Gee, thanks Professor" Ash handed his Xtransceiver to the Professor, who began tinkering away with it. Ash shook his head fondly at his sponsor and turned to the video phone and transporter to begin making his calls.

'Ring, Ring'

"Hello, Saffron Fighting Dojo… well if it isn't Ash Ketchum, how've you been pal?"

"I've been fine Anthony" Ash's call was answered by a broad chested adult male with a prominent chin. This was Anthony, the guy who had taken Primeape away for training.

"You didn't call when you came back from Hoenn, why not?"

"I was invited to compete in the Kanto Battle Frontier challenge, I calling about everyone kinda slipped my mind" Ash replied whilst sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Well anyway, I'm glad you called, I was hoping you would get in touch soon, I want to talk to you about Primeape."

"Really, why, what's happened?!" Ash quickly got very scared at Anthony's statement.

"Nothing bad kid, calm down. You see, Primeape has been the P1 champ for three years running now, and none of the completion aside from my own Hitmonchan can come close to beating him. I think he's been getting bored, so I think he needs a new challenge"

"Really, because I was going to ask if Primeape was willing to come back for a month at least. I'm spending about a month in Pallet just to train my Pokémon before I head to the Sinnoh region, and I was wondering if Primeape was willing to join in"

"Well, isn't this a coincidence. Tell you what, I'll just go get Primeape, and see what his choice is." Anthony then turned off screen and began talking to someone else. "Hey Primeape, you have someone here who wants to speak to you!"

Moments later, a four foot tall, spherical body appeared. It had obviously strong arms and legs. It seemed similar in appearance to an ape. This was the aforementioned Primeape. Upon seeing who was on the video phone, its' facial features became one of a happy 'mon.

"Prime!"

"Hey Primeape, listen buddy, I'm going to spend a month in Pallet doing some training with all of my Pokémon before heading off to Sinnoh, I was wondering if you would be willing to partake in the training as well as helping me out sometimes in Sinnoh" Ash didn't have to wait long for Primeape to nod his head vigorously, obviously the idea seemed to agree with the fighting type. At this point, Anthony decided to interject again in the conversation.

"Well, that's settled, I'll send Primeape to Professor Oaks Lab as quick as I can"

"You sure you're alright with this Anthony"

"Kid, Primeape needs a new challenge, one only you could provide him. Besides, there isn't anything new to teach him"

As soon as Primeape was sent over, Ash and Anthony talked for a further fifteen minutes about Ash's Hoenn and Battle Frontier challenge, as well as talking about training other fighting types, as Ash was thinking that a few other of his Pokémon, like Sceptile, Charizard, and especially Heracross, could learn a few fighting type techniques from the P1 champ. Anthony told him not to worry as Primeape had two advantages. One, he had been training at a fighting type dojo for three years, and so had observed how different fighting types worked, and two, Primeape's were a jack of all trades type of fighting type. Because of their specialty being Thrash, they had no clear fighting style, unlike a Hitmonchan or a Hitmonlee. As such, they were comfortable using a good majority of fighting type moves, whether they involve punches or kicks.

After finishing his talk with Anthony, and seeing that Primeape had arrived via the transporter, Ash decided to call the next person on his to call list.

'Ring, Ring'

"Hello Ash Ketchum" Immediately, a slender young woman answered the video phone. She was slightly shorter than Delia, with a pale complexion with dark green hair and blue eyes. She was wearing white pants, a pink strap top and strange bracelets on her wrists. This was Sabrina, the Psychic type gym leader of Saffron city. Ash was immediately taken a back at how Sabrina knew he was calling.

"I'm a Psychic Ash, and you had just called Anthony at the Dojo, his mind is currently thinking of all the great things you and Primeape would do together" Ash quickly saw where this was going, and decided to get on with why he called Sabrina in the first place.

"You want to know if Haunter would be willing to join in on your training regime for the next month, and to see if he would also accompany you to Sinnoh from time to time." Ash knew it wouldn't be likely that he would get a word in, as before he could say anything, Sabrina's eye glowed blue, and in a flash, a floating purple head with floating hands appeared, looking confused. Upon seeing Ash however, the Pokémon gained a large, toothy grin on his face. This was Haunter, the Pokémon that won Ash the Marsh Badge. Before Ash could say hello, Sabrina started explaining to Haunter what Ash wanted. Haunter seemed excited about the prospect, but also looked at Sabrina worriedly.

"Don't worry about me, Erika and Anabel visit occasionally, Espeon and Girafarig will be here, as will my family, and I have to go to Unova for the movie part I'm playing in" Sabrina spoke softly to the ghost type, which seemed to convince the ghost to leave.

"Then it's settled. Ash I will send over Haunter shortly. I will also send over information on Psychic types on your new Xtransceiver to help you with Psychic type training. Farewell" 'Click'. It was that moment when Ash realized that he hadn't even said a single word. Not a moment later, he heard Professor Oak ask him something from the other room. "Ash, how come you have just received an e-mail on your Xtransceiver?"

"It's a long story Professor, and one I don't know myself."

After confirming that Haunter had arrived and quickly scanning the information that Sabrina had sent, Ash decided to crack on with the third call he had to make.

'Ring, Ring'

"Hello, Vermillion Fire and Rescue, how can I help you?"

"Hi, my name is Ash Ketchum, can I speak to the Officer Jenny in charge of the Squirtle Squad?"

"Certainly, just on moment Mr Ketchum… Okay, I'll put you through now" The video screen cut to static for a moment before showing the face of the Officer Jenny in charge of the Squirtle Squad.

"Hi Ash, I didn't expect to hear from you so soon"

"Yeah, well I wanted to ask you something. Would it be okay for Squirtle to come down to Pallet for a month's training that I'm doing with all my Pokémon, and then possibly accompany me to Sinnoh occasionally when I head off?"

"Hmmm, normally I would be a bit apprehensive about this, as you are taking out one of my more experienced fire fighters, but after he got back from your battle with Brandon, he doesn't seem to be putting all his effort into firefighting as he would do. I think he realised just how much he missed being with you and his friends training together, and I was going to call you if this continued. Hold there, I'll just go get him" After waiting a while and hearing some loud voices in the background, Ash was immediately met with an extremely happy blue turtle wearing sunglasses. This was Squirtle, Ash's first water type, and he looked extremely happy to see Ash.

"Hi Squirtle, I hear that you miss hanging out with us huh"

Squirtle had a sombre look on his face when Ash said this. After the training session with Ash, Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Charizard, and the subsequent battle, he would give anything to continue to do that, but with more friends. But he couldn't just leave the Squirtle Squad, they needed him. Sensing this, Officer Jenny decided to set him straight. "You know Squirtle, we're okay if you want to go, you've taught them all everything you know, and we knew that one day you would want to go back to Ash" Squirtle looked on in shock as the other members gave encouraged nods to Squirtle to go be with his other family, and that they would be behind him, no matter what. After a tearfull farewell, Squirtle turned to Ash with determination in his eyes, placed on his special pair of sunglasses, and agreed to return to Ash. In Squirtle's mind, it was not only time to move on, but to show the Sinnoh region what he could do.

After saying goodbye to Officer Jenny and thanking her and the rest of the Squirtle Squad for understanding and helping Squirtle make the decision, as went and made sure Squirtle had made it okay, before getting ready for the next phone call.

'Ring, Ring'

"Hello?"

"Hi Liza, it's me Ash"

"Ash? I hadn't expected to hear from you so soon. I can tell you that Charizard made his way back here okay, and has gotten back into the swing of things around here quickly. You don't need him back so soon do you?"

"Well Liza, before I headed off to Sinnoh, I was going to spend a month here in Pallet just with all of my Pokémon training. I was hoping Charizard would be interested, as I know a few of my Pokémon may benefit from having him around, and maybe he'll pick up a few techniques as well"

"Okay… I can understand how having him around may help others, but what exactly would you be teaching him?"

"Maybe some other aerial manoeuvres my other flying types can do, some fighting type moves, and in general, I think just broadening his general move set beyond just Fire type moves"

"Well that sounds like a good idea, hopefully Charizard can then pass on some knowledge towards the other Charizard's here. I'll let him know and he'll be on his way as soon as possible"

"That's great Liza, thanks for understanding"

"That's okay Ash, just don't keep him any longer than a month, otherwise Charla will get lonely" This was said with a playful wink at Ash, who despite his dense attitude towards romance, caught the suggestion and began blushing bright red. The call was soon ended, and as soon as Ash had stopped his prominent blush, he turned back towards Professor Oak, who seemed to be just finishing up with Ash's Xtransceiver.

"So Professor, how goes the tinkering?"

"Almost done my boy. I've taken the liberty of putting in all the contacts you should need from me and your mother, to the Charcific Valley and Scott of the Battle Frontier. Anyone else you want is up to you, I've left the instructions on your Xtransceiver. I've also synced up all of your Pokémon's Poké balls to it so you can use the transporter function, including Primeape's, Haunter's and Squirtle's. The only ones I have left to do is Charizard when he gets here and Pidgeots if you decide to go collect her"

"Yeah, that's if that Fearow isn't still causing problems"

"Which leads me to giving you your first Ace trainer mission" Ash looked on at the Professor with interest, who was smirking at the 13, nearly 14 year old. "In recent years, many people have commented on the aerial battles between the Spearow and Pidgey flock that live on and around route 1. Most of the time, it is fairly distant, but occasions have occurred when the lead Fearow will attack travellers on the route, only to be foiled by an especially large Pidgeot and driven away. Obviously, the Fearow is the main antagonist in this little story, and as such, the league has decided to intervene before someone gets hurt, possibly fatally" At this end statement, Ash gulped, truly not believe that a Fearow with a temper would go this far. However, he gained a look of determination and asked "What do you want me to do?" The response was Professor Oak handing Ash what looked like a basic Poké Ball, but it had the Pokémon League symbol etched onto it. "This is a league sanctioned Poké Ball. With it, you'll capture the Fearow, at which point one of two things may happen. One, if the Fearow decided to become a part of your team, you may keep it, as long as there are no further incidents involving it. Or, I will take it of you, and it will belong to the Pokémon League, the same way if I take the 29 Tauros of your hands. However, the Fearow will be transported to another location so that I don't have to keep an eye on it"

Ash couldn't see the Fearow joining his team without major convincing, but that would be his choice when it came to it. He only had one other question "Anything else I should know?"

"Take at least 4 Pokémon with you, referable ones with advantages over a Normal-Flying Type. I would recommend Pikachu, Noctowl, Swellow and Glalie. Those Pokémon should be more than enough to deal with the Fearow, even more so if Pidgeot joins in the fight"

"Okay Professor, I'll just go collect those Pokémon and we should have this squared away before dinner."

"Make sure you all have Lunch here before you go, you'll need your strength, especially if that Fearow's strength has grown in leaps and bounds over the years, as would be expected" Upon this final statement, Ash picked up Primeape's, Haunter's and Squirtle's Poké Balls, attached his Xtransceiver on his left wrist, and headed out to the Corral to see what everyone else was up to.

 **Additional Notes: As always, leave a review, and possible a message detailing possible ideas I could go with this story.**


	6. Chapter 6: The First Mission

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 6: The First Mission**

When Ash got back down the hill to where his Pokémon had gathered for a basic spar, what he was ecstatic at what he saw. None of his Pokémon seemed to be too badly injured, instead just a few bruises on a few of the most extreme cases. A few Pokémon had thoughts of contemplation, whilst others looked pleased with themselves. As such, it made it clear who had won in the basic sparing, and who was thinking of improvement. Right now, it seemed that Kingler and Corphish where have their own spar right now.

"Hey Guys, I'm back!"

"Bay!"

"Muk!" almost instantly, Ash was swarmed with his two most affectionate Pokémon, Bayleef, who had slammed into him and was now nuzzling him, and Muk, who was now smothering the raven haired trainer.

"It's great to see you all guys, but I was only gone for half an hour at most" As Ash got back up he saw that everyone was gathered around him, waiting to see what he had planned next.

"Okay Bulbasaur, everything go okay" Ash asked his first grass type.

"Bulba" Bulbasaur replied with a nod, signifying that nothing had gone wrong at all.

"That's good to hear. Listen guys, I'm almost done with getting everyone together, ones on his way now, and the last I just have to sort out after lunch, but first, here are the three that have arrived now!" Ending this statement was accompanied with Ash throwing three Poké Balls into the air, with them releasing their contents. In a flash of light, Primeape, Haunter and Squirtle stood before their teammates. Upon seeing who was part of the three, Pikachu and Bulbasaur quickly ran over to greet their own friend, whilst Haunter began cackling at the assembled Pokémon. Primeape however, after seeing his trainer in the flesh for the first time, decided to punch him in the gut, and steal his hat. This action did not impress Aipom, who was now glaring at the fighting type. Primeape saw the glare and smirked, knowing that he had found an amusing rival.

After recovering from Primeape's punch, Ash decided to introduce some of the new additions. "Okay everyone, these are some of other Pokémon I've befriended over the years. The large fighting type is Primeape, and he has been P1 champion for the past 3 years." Upon hearing his accomplishments, Primeape puffed his chest up in pride, whilst Ash continued. "He is going to help us with Fighting type training, as having some fighting type moves could help us in the future, especially for you Heracross." The last part was said to the bug/fighting type, who began nodding eagerly. One could also see Sceptile nodding his head in thought as well, a few other moves wouldn't hurt would it. Primeape looked at the Bug type and was also eager to begin training with the bug/fighting type, as It seemed powerful to begin with.

"Next to him is Haunter, he's a ghost/poison type, he's here to re-join the team from the Saffron gym. Muk, you and he are going to work on some poison type moves together, but he's also going to be developing other abilities he has, like ghost, psychic and dark type moves. I have a lot of information from Sabrina, and if any of you want to, you can learn alongside as well" This statement did perk pretty much everyone up, as they had experienced how tricky those types where before, so it would be nice to have some of their arsenal in their corner now.

"Finally, this is Squirtle, he was part of my original team, who left to join a fire fighting squad in Vermillion. He's decided to return now, with the consent of his teammates, as he wanted to get back into more competitive battling." The final statement was met with some approving nods. The resident water types did look more excited, especially if like the others, he could also impart some useful knowledge.

"Alright guys, we'll have lunch now, but Tauros, can I borrow you for a second?" The bull Pokémon looked confused as he made his way over. "We're just going to see what's up with the rest of the Tauros" As everyone started their lunch, Ash climbed onto Tauros's back, and they began heading off towards where the others where.

An hour later finds Ash back in the Lab as he explained the situation with his remaining 29 Tauros to the Professor, whilst they are eating lunch. Upon finding them and having a talk with them, he found that whilst initially a bit envious about Ash only using one Tauros, it was explained to them by Bulbasaur that for Ash to use 30 different Tauros effectively was a near impossibility, and it wasn't reasonable of them to expect otherwise. As such, they decided that whilst Ash would use the leader, they would be fine with it, as long as the leader taught them anything new he had learnt, and that they could continue to stay and the corral. Ash explained that they could, he would just transfer ownership to the Professor so that he can take the responsibility of Ash's shoulders. Most of the Tauros were fine with this, as they liked the corral and its expansive fields, so wouldn't even notice any difference. There were however, 5 Tauros that didn't like the idea of just spending their lives on a field. They wanted to battle, so Ash agreed to find them a more suitable home for them. He was now explaining it to Professor Oak, whilst his main Tauros went to re-join the group for later training.

"So what do you want doing then Ash?"

"Honestly Professor, I'm thinking that trading those 5 Tauros may be best, as they can move on to trainers who are more likely to use them, and I could get some more new Pokémon."

"I agree, if I may suggest an extension of that, you could use it to get more Pokémon of types you don't have yet."

"What do you mean Professor?"

"I mean that you could use the 5 Tauros to get Pokémon with types you haven't caught yet, such as Dragon, Steel, Rock, Psychic, Dark and maybe even the newly discover Fairy type"

"Yeah, that's sounds best, although I wouldn't mind what I get, just as long as it is a fair trade"

"Of course my boy, I'll set up a trading profile for you right now" At this statement, Professor Oak put down his bowl of soup, and turned to his computer, bringing up the trainer profile of Ash Ketchum. With as looking one, the Professor began typing in the necessary information. "Let's see, ah here we go, trading profile, 5 Tauros willing to trade, want a life of battling, will accept anything fair, preferences towards Dragon, Steel, Rock, Psychic, Dark and Fairy types. There that should do it" upon finishing the profile, the Professor hit the enter button to upload the new information. He then turned back to Ash to explain what he had just done. "That profile is now up on the Global Trade Station network or GTS for short. Fellow trainer can now look upon your profile and decide whether or not to respond. Myself or you can then see their response and deem them fair enough to accept. We'll send them a response saying okay, we'll schedule a date for the trade, we'll trade, and we will all walk happily away from the transaction. That profile will also be shown at trading event, like the one you visited in Johto"

"Okay, but what if someone lies to us, and we get a completely different Pokémon"

"Then we can pursue them with legal action. Besides, the trading stations are monitored, so if any Pokémon are traded that shouldn't be, it is immediately clamped down on, and the perpetrator can be fined a heavy amount. They can even lose all three Pokémon potentially to the victim, the one they offered, the one they gave, and the one they received if the ramifications are severe enough"

Ash was astounded by how strict this process could be, but it did make sense, as otherwise, criminal organisations like Team rocket could easily exploit it otherwise. Putting those thought to one side, Ash decided that now was as good as time as any to get started on his first official Ace trainer mission. "Thanks for your help Professor, I had better get started on my mission now."

"Your welcome my boy, you'd better get started before the day runs out, I'll keep an eye out for Charizard if he arrives before you get back and explain the situation to him. I'll also keep an eye on your trading profile and I'll collect any more information that I can get for you"

"Great, thanks again Professor" With that, Ash left the lab through the door towards the corral, with the intention of collecting the Pokémon necessary for his first mission.

Half an hour later, Ash was travelling back along route 1 to the usual spot where he meets Pidgeot every year. With him was Pikachu, on his right shoulder, Swellow and Noctowl, who were flying just above Ash, keeping an eye out from the sky, and Glalie, floating along on Ash's left. Ash knew the system he and Pidgeot had set up years ago in order to meet up. He would go to the clearing, have Pikachu fire a Thunderbolt, wait a while and then talk with Pidgeot for a while. After a while, Ash made it to the clearing, had Pikachu use Thunderbolt straight into the sky, and began to wait. Not a short while later, the wait was over.

"PIDGEOT!" A large 6ft tall bird, with a 12ft wingspan landed in the clearing in front of Ash, with Swellow and Noctowl landing beside him. It had a brown plumage on top, with a cream plumage underbelly, with black markings around its sharp eyes. It has a slightly hooked beak, and its crest was red and yellow extending down the entire length of its body. Glalie, Swellow and Noctowl were astounded at the size and majesty of the flying type, who had obviously seen its fair share of battles, judging by the number of scars that ran across its body. To Ash and Pikachu, none of that mattered, they were just glad to see their friend again. "Hi Pidgeot, it's good to see you again"

"Pika Pikachu"

Pidgeot smiled fondly at the two, and proceeded to embrace the two. She did notice the three other Pokémon in the clearing with them, but she paid them little notice.

"Pidgeot, we're not hear just to talk" As Ash separated from his first flying type, Pidgeot gained a look of confusion on her face, as Ash continued his explanation. "We're here to deal with Fearow, okay" Pidgeot gained a look of understanding of why they were here, and what would happen if they succeeded. She immediately lowered herself so that Ash could easily climb onto her back. Ash then returned Glalie and Noctowl, as they would not be able to keep up with Swellow and Pidgeot, and prepared himself for flight. "Let's go Pidgeot" Once Ash finished his sentence, Pidgeot shot up into the sky, followed closely by Swellow, as they went to find Fearow.

Not ten minutes later, Pidgeot and Swellow were flying along steadily with Ash and Pikachu on top, when they saw a large flying Pokémon in the distance, closing in fast. It was roughly the same size as Pidgeot, but with a scrawnier body and smaller wingspan. It's mainly reddish brown plumage was in quite a disarray, with a multitude of scars crisscrossing his bod. Its head had a red crest on it, and ended with a very sharp, very long beak. His face was also one of shear anger, and was heading towards Ash and Pidgeot at quite a speed. This was the Fearow that Ash had angered nearly 4 years ago as a Spearow, and was a perfect example of not letting go. Ash immediately knew upon seeing him that Fearow would have to be turned over to the league, not just because of the sheer rage it expressed, but also because of how unhealthy it looked as well.

"Swellow, intercept with Aerial Ace, Pidgeot get us down quickly" Ash ordered upon seeing that the Fearow had no intention of stopping. Whilst Pidgeot dropped Ash off, Swellow sped ahead to deal with the angry Pokémon, with him easily avoiding the Peck attack, and slamming into the back of it, causing Fearow to fall to the ground, before it caught itself in the nick of time. By the time it had recovered enough to get back up to height, it found itself surrounded by Swellow, Pidgeot and Noctowl, who Ash had released to join in the Aerial battle if necessary, whilst he stood in the clearing below, with Glalie and Pikachu flanking him in case Fearow decided to come after him. Any normal Pokémon would've decided that fighting wasn't worth it. Unfortunately, Fearow had such an anger problem, so was unable to think clearly, especially when the two beings most responsible for him being in this state, in his mind, being here at the same time. As such, it decided to attack Pidgeot with a Drill Peck. Pidgeot responded with what seemed to be an extraordinarily powerful Gust, which threw Fearow of course.

Before Fearow could recover, Pidgeot began to glow a bright white light for a moment and then slammed into Fearow, causing even more damage, as Fearow then slammed straight into the ground, not a few feet from Ash. "Glalie quick, use Ice beam to freeze Fearow now!" The Ice type, while young, didn't hesitate to act, and in a few moments, Fearow was frozen on the ground, swirls in his eyes. Ash immediately threw the league sanction Pokéball, capturing Fearow without any trouble at all.

Ash let out a sigh of relief, and then started thinking about how quickly the aerial battle just went. Why did it go so fast? Where was the rest of Fearow's flock? Where was Pidgeot's flock actually? And why did Fearow look so ill? He brushed these thoughts out of his head as the three flying types landed. "You were awesome Pidgeot, as were you Swellow." The two flying types puffed up in pride at their trainers/former trainer's praise. Ash turned to Noctowl and said "Sorry you didn't see any action Noctowl" The Owl Pokémon just looked on before flying to Ash's left shoulder and nuzzling his hair, effectively saying that it was okay. Ash then turned back to Pidgeot, who was staring at Ash with curiosity, as if to say, what now? Ash decided that know would be a good time to ask Pidgeot the question. "Hey Pidgeot, I was wondering, now that Fearow can be dealt with properly, if you would like to come back and be part of my team again? I understand if you want to stay with the flock, that's okay, I was just hoping that…." Ash didn't finish as Pidgeot bent down and pecked her old Pokéball, almost instantly being captured. Ash couldn't fight the grin on his face as he released Pidgeot. "So you're okay with coming back?" Pidgeot nodded, and bent down in a similar position to take Ash back to Pallet. Ash return Glalie, set Pikachu on his shoulder and with Noctowl and Swellow flying side by side, they set of back to Pallet and the Lab, eager to tell Professor Oak the good news.

 **Additional Notes: Before anyone says anything about the fight being too short, if you noticed, I described Fearow to be not in the best of shape, and I will be explaining why in the future, as well as Pidgeot's lack of hesitance towards being captured straight away. As always leave a review and a comment if you wish, and I'll see you next time.**


	7. Chapter 7: All Together Now

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 7 All together now**

Later in the afternoon, we find the rest of Ash's Pokémon continuing their training. Primeape had already taken Heracross to one side to get started on some fighting type moves. He was also joined by Sceptile and Snorlax, who had expressed their interest in learning some fighting type moves. Primeape was happy to have more potential students, especially from the powerful fully evolved grass type, who just seemed to have an aura of power and confidence. Haunter had made quick friends of pretty much everyone here, and no seemed to be in mischievous cahoots with Aipom and Totodile, judging by the impossibly wide grins on all three faces. Squirtle had also introduced and reintroduced himself to a lot of Ash's Pokémon. Squirtle was mainly glad be back amongst his other family, especially with his old pal Bulbasaur, who was just as ecstatic to see the water type. Everyone was just conversing with one another, waiting for their trainer to return.

"PIDGEOT!" Not a moment later, a shrill cry ran out from above them, as three shapes appeared above them. Two where very similar to the entire group, as they could recognise Swellow and Noctowl easily. The third, larger shape wasn't so easily recognised, but after seeing the avian body, coupled with the large size, Bulbasaur and Squirtle were easily able to identify that another of the original team had returned, and couldn't stop the massive grins from spreading across their faces, much to the confusion of everyone else. Swellow landed in an undignified flop on top of Donphan's body, clearly tired out from whatever activities he had taken part of in getting back here. Noctowl, whilst out of breath, was able to land gracefully on top of Heracross's horn, and sent a slightly smug look back to the collapsed Swellow, that he had been able to conserve his energy better than the Hoenn flying type. The third avian to land was also carrying a passenger. As Pidgeot sent another smug look towards Swellow, as Ash and Pikachu stumbled off Pidgeot's back. "The next time you three decide to take part in an aerial race, warn me."

"Pika pi ka" Pikachu stumbled forward with swirls in his eyes, landing in the vines of Bulbasaur. After Ash had cleared his head, and settled his stomach enough, he turned to the assembled group of Pokémon in order to address them on the new team mate. "Okay everyone, I would like you to meet Pidgeot, my first flying type." Many noises of approval and greeting met the Kanto flying type, as she nodded and greeted them all the same. "She's here to re-join the gang, and to help us with some aerial manoeuvres. As you can see, she has already put Swellow through his paces" Swellow was still collapsed on Donphan's back, but gave out a weak cry in protest. "Now, almost everyone is here, we are just waiting for one more Pokémon. He was my first fire type, and whilst we did have a rough patch when he evolved, we put that behind us, and he is now probably my most powerful Pokémon. The final statement was met with many different reactions. Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Pikachu faces were alight with grins as were a few others from Kanto and Johto who could remember the fire type in question. Pidgeot's face was twisted into one of confusion, as she was wondering how the disobedient, arrogant fire type started listening to Ash. Everyone else's face was also one of confusion, as they wondered who Ash was talking about, except Sceptile. His eyes where currently narrowed towards Ash, thinking about who the fire type was, and how he would stack up in a fight.

"He should be here soon though, In the meantime let's get…"

"CHAAARRRRR!"

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear…Charizard we're over here!"

"PIKA!"

Up in the sky, there was a similar draconic shape flying straight towards the group. It was about 8ft in height, with a 5ft tail, and a 14ft wingspan. It was primarily red in colour, with a cream underbelly. It had a flame at the end of its tail, and what seemed to be two horns coming from his head. This was Charizard, Ash's first fire type, and the first Pokémon of Ash's to defeat a legendary Pokémon.

Upon nearing land, Charizard did is signature greeting, by burning Ash to a crisp with a low powered Flamethrower. Such an act shocked the post-Johto league Pokémon, but looking at the faces of the pre-Johto league Pokémon, this was actually a common occurrence. When he landed, Charizard released a mighty roar that shook the foundations of the corral.

"Charizard, it's great to see you again"

"Pika chu pika" Charizard just gave a simple nod to Ash alongside what would appear to be a thumbs up and a greeting towards Pikachu, who had climbed onto Charizard's shoulder to greet the large fire type. Charizard then started greeting everyone else, and saw that whilst some had work to be down, others around here where almost to his level power wise, like Pidgeot, Primeape and Snorlax. He did other instantly lock eyes with Sceptile, and at that moment, a rivalry was born. Charizard's attention was however pulled away by his trainer. "Charizard, I don't know how much Liza told you, but basically, we're going to spend the next month training in preparation for the Sinnoh league, and this time, we're going to win!"

"CHAARR!" Charizard responded Ash's determination with an all-out Flamethrower to the sky. Cyndaquil and Torkoal saw that they had a bit of catching up to do. Nevertheless, they were ready and willing to get started. Ash turned to the rest of his team and saw that everyone was nodding with similar determination. The month of serious training starts now, and once they were done, they were going to take the Sinnoh region by storm, win the league, and Ash Ketchum would become a Pokémon Master!

"ASH KETCHUM!"

In about another hour though. Upon the sudden exclamation, Ash tensed up and with a sheepish grin on his face and turned around to find a frazzled Professor Oak charging down the hill with the gusto of a Tauros on fire. He seemed incredibly shell shocked to Ash, as he made his way closer to the group. It also appeared that Professor Oak had a journal in his hands.

"What in blazes is going on here!? First Pidgeot, then Charizard, now it seems that you've decided to start a light show!" Ash could only look down in shame as the Professor looked on in absolute incredulity.

"Sorry if I disturbed you Professor, I kinda got carried away with everyone being here all at once, and I'm just so excited about starting the training"

Professor Oak just sighed before answering the young trainer in front of him. "No harm no foul my boy, just remember to tack your training further inside the corral. Not all of us in Pallet are as young as we used to be, and some of the resident Pokémon wouldn't' be very appreciative about all the disturbance now would they?" Ash suddenly gained a very sheepish and guilty look on his face, he hadn't thought about who he would affect with his training program. His thoughts then turned back to the folder in the Professors arms. "What's with the journal Professor?"

"Hmm, oh, this is a printed out version of your trainer profile, with each page being devoted to each of you Pokémon. I compiled this so you could register where you started in terms of training via what moves they already knew, what you are planning on having them learn, and where they are up to in terms of training. I will be making this into an electronic version in the future so you can take it with you when you go to Sinnoh"

"That's great Professor, thank you. What do you mean by what moves they know, I already know that?"

"You may only know some of their moves, they may have moves that they themselves don't know that they can do. Thankfully, an update to the Pokédex system allows you scan your Pokémon and for your Pokémon's current move set, as well as potential move set to show up. That way, you can have a more effective training session."

"Wow, technology really is something, isn't it professor"

"Yes my boy, but at my age, I find it best to stick with good old pen and paper, hence the journal. You can use it to make quick notes of things when on your journey." Ash could only nod in agreement. Most of the time, he would be away from cities and towns in the wilderness, were although the Xtransceiver would be helpful, it would be best not to try and rely on it all the time.

"Alright then Professor, let's see what everyone can do" Ash pulled his Xtransceiver towards himself and got ready the Pokédex function, whilst the Professor opened up the journal, ready to take notes.

 **Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon, and the evolved form of Pichu. Pikachu's tail is sometimes struck by lightning as it raises it to check its surroundings. This Pikachu is Male and has the ability of Static. Its known moves are: Thunderbolt, Thunder, Volt Tackle, Agility, Quick Attack, Iron Tail and Double Edge.**

 **Bulbasaur, the Seed Pokémon. A young Bulbasaur uses the nutrients from its seed for the energy it needs to grow. This Bulbasaur is Male and has the abilities of Overgrow and Chlorophyll. Its Known moves are: Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Leech Seed, Solar Beam, Sleep Powder, Tackle, Take Down and Dig.**

 **Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon. It draws its long neck into its shell to launch incredible water attacks with amazing range and accuracy. The blasts can be quite powerful. This Squirtle is Male and has the abilities of Torrent and Rain Dish. Its Known moves are: Water Gun, Bubble Beam, Withdraw, Hydro Pump, Skull Bash, Tackle and Rapid Spin.**

 **Charizard, the Flame Pokémon. Charizard is a Flying and Fire type. When competing in intense battles, Charizard's flame becomes more intense as well. This Charizard is Male, and has the abilities of Blaze and Solar Power. Its known moves are: Flamethrower, Fire Spin, Overheat, Skull Bash, Seismic Toss, Submission, Mega Punch, Take Down, Slash, Dragon Rage, Dragon Breath, Steel Wing, Fly and Wing Attack.**

 **Primeape, the Pig Monkey Pokémon. If you make eye contact with this evolved form of Mankey, it will chase you forever. This Primeape is Male, and has the abilities of Vital Spirit and Defiant. Its known moves are Thrash, Mega Kick, Seismic Toss, Low Kick, Low Sweep, Karate Chop, Assurance, Cross Chop, Close Combat and Brick Break.**

 **Pidgeot, the Bird Pokémon. The evolved form of Pidgeotto, it can fly at twice the speed of sound at an altitude of nearly one mile. This Pidgeot is Female and has the abilities of Keen eye and Big Pecks. Its known moves are: Quick Attack, Whirlwind, Double Edge, Wing Attack, Hurricane, Sky Attack, Twister, Air Slash, Agility, Mirror Move, Roost, Tailwind, Aerial Ace and Fly.**

 **Haunter, the Gas Pokémon and the evolved form of Gastly. Haunter can watch opponents by hiding in walls and slips through anything in its way. This Haunter is Male and has the ability of Levitate. Its known moves are: Lick, Hypnosis, Nightshade, Confuse Ray, Sucker Punch, Shadow Punch, Shadow Claw, Shadow Ball, Dream Eater, Dark Pulse and Psychic.**

 **Kingler, the Pincer Pokémon and the evolved form of Krabby. Kingler's larger pincer has immensely powerful crushing strength, but because of its weight, it is difficult to aim. This Kingler is Male and has the abilities of Shell Armor and Hyper Cutter. Its known moves are: Harden, Vice Grip, Leer, Stomp, Water Gun, Bubble Beam, Crabhammer and Hyper Beam.**

 **Muk, the Sludge Pokémon. A horribly toxic liquid seeps out of its body. This Muk is Male, and has the abilities of Stench and Poison Touch. Its known moves are: Body Slam, Poison Gas, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave, Mud, Bomb, Gunk Shot, Acid Armor, Screech and Minimize.**

 **Tauros, the Wild Bull Pokémon. When whipping itself with its three tails, its Tackle is a powerful destructive force. This Tauros is Male, and has the abilities of Anger Point and Sheer Force. Its known moves are: Fissure, Take Down, Horn Attack, Double Team, Rest, Zen Head-butt, Thrash and Giga Impact.**

 **Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon and the evolved form of Munchlax. It can eat 400 pounds of food before feeling full. This Snorlax is Male, and has the abilities Thick Fat and Immunity. Its known moves are: Body Slam, Head-butt, Mega Kick, Mega Punch, Hyper Beam, Ice Punch, Tackle, Protect and Rest.**

 **Heracross, the Single Horn Pokémon. Though gentle and docile, Heracross possesses great strength and power. Their favourite food is the fresh sap of leafy trees. This Heracross is Male, and has the abilities Guts and Moxie. Its known moves are: Tackle, Horn Attack, Endure, Take Down, Megahorn, Sleep Talk, Focus Punch and Hyper Beam.**

 **Bayleef, the Leaf Pokémon. The evolved form of Chikorita. Bayleef emits a spicy aroma from the leaves around its neck and its Razor Leaf is extremely powerful. This Bayleef is Female, and has the abilities Overgrow and Leaf Guard. Its known moves are: Razor Leaf, Vine Whip, Tackle, Sweet Scent, Body Slam, Head-Butt, Magical Leaf and Solar Beam.**

 **Cyndaquil, the Fire Mouse Pokémon. Normally mild and even tempered, Cyndaquil will shoot a scorching flame out of its back when upset. This Cyndaquil is Male, and has the ability of Blaze. Its known moves are: Flamethrower, Tackle, Agility, Smokescreen, Quick Attack, Swift, Flame wheel and Aerial Ace.**

 **Totodile, the Big Jaw Pokémon. Its highly developed jaw is so powerful, it can crush practically anything. Trainers beware: this Pokémon loves to use its teeth. This Totodile is Male, and has the abilities of Torrent and Sheer Force. Its known moves are: Bite, Water Gun, Head-Butt, Scary Face, Slash and Ice Fang.**

 **Noctowl, the Owl Pokémon. The evolved form of Hoothoot. This highly intelligent Pokémon often twists its head 180 degrees when it is thinking. Noctowl is a nocturnal Pokémon. This Noctowl is Male and has the ability of Insomnia. Its known moves are: Peck, Hypnosis, Whirlwind, Foresight, Tackle, Confusion, Air Slash and Extrasensory.**

 **Donphan, the Armor Pokémon. Donphan is the evolved form of Phanpy. They attack by rolling their bodies into a circle and charging their enemies. This Donphan is Male, and has the ability of Sturdy. Its known moves are: Tackle, Rollout, Take Down, Defence Curl, Earthquake, Hidden Power and Hyper Beam.**

 **Swellow, the Swallow Pokémon. Swellow uses its impressive divebomber speed and its large talons to capture its prey. This Swellow is Male and has the Ability of Guts. Its known moves are Peck, Wing Attack, Quick Attack, Aerial Ace and Double Team.**

 **Sceptile, the Forest Pokémon. Its arms are equipped with razor-sharp leaves, and it moves lightly through tree branches in order to attack its enemies. This Sceptile is Male and has the ability Overgrow. Its known moves are: Pound, Quick Attack, Bullet Seed, Leaf Blade, Solar Beam and Agility.**

 **Corphish, the Ruffian Pokémon. Corphish is exceptional in its ability to survive. It adapts to any environment, will drive out its inhabitants, and claim the territory for its own. This Corphish is Male and has the ability of Adaptability. Its known moves are: Crabhammer, Bubble Beam, Vice Grip and Harden.**

 **Torkoal, the Coal Pokémon. Torkoal burns coal within its body to produce energy. As a defence, Torkoal is able to release smoke from its nostrils and its back to confuse enemies. This Torkoal is Male and has the ability of White Smoke. Its known moves are: Flamethrower, Overheat, Iron Defence, Body Slam and Heat Wave.**

 **Glalie, the Face Pokémon. Glalie has a tempered ice body that doesn't melt even under a direct flame. It can freeze vapours in the air instantly. This Glalie is Male and has the Ability Ice Body. Its Known moves are: Icy Wind, Double Team, Head-Butt and Ice Beam.**

 **Aipom, the Long Tail Pokémon. Aipom is able to climb and hang from branches using its powerful tail. Aipom live atop tall trees. This Aipom is Female and has the ability of Run Away. Its known moves are: Scratch, Swift, Focus Punch and Double Team.**

By the time Ash had finished, he was astounded. He only ever used four moves with his Pokémon at any one time, and now he was seeing that most of them had more than that, as well as some having more than one ability. That quickly confused Ash, as he turned to Professor Oak with his query.

"Professor, how come some of my Pokémon know more than four moves, and how come some even have two abilities?"

"Hmm, two very good questions. In terms of moves, Pokémon never truly forget moves, sometimes they just need an reminder. After all, can a Pokémon really forget how to use a move like Tackle, or Dig? They can forget moves via what I like to call, 'move evolution'. Surely you must have seen an example of when you specifically order a move, like Ember, but instead, a more powerful move, like Flamethrower is used instead. As a Pokémon grows in strength, so too does the power of the moves" Ash was once again nodding in deep thought. What the Professor said was correct. He remembers when he called for a Thundershock, but instead, Pikachu used Thunderbolt for the first time ever. "Now onto your question about abilities. All Pokémon have a single ability when they are born, like a talent of sorts i.e. you always have been a good climber, so climbing is your ability, whereas Gary had always been more academically minded, so academics is Gary's ability. However, whilst you initially struggled in classes, you put hard work into it i.e. training, and thus you gained the academics ability, as well as the hard working ability. Gary was never the best at physical activities, but he also but hard work into them, also gaining the hard working ability. The same is with Pokémon, in that they can be trained to take on more abilities. Take Bulbasaur, he has the ability of Overgrow, which is pretty standard for all grass type starters. But he also has Chlorophyll, a move that under harsh sunlight, boosts his speed. Because of your speedy tactics, he must have gained that ability whilst training with you" Ash was once again astounded. He never knew that training could have such profound effects on a Pokémon. Looking at the potential move sets and known abilities, he knew how to train his Pokémon for the next month.

 **Additional Notes: I hope you all understand what I've done with moves and abilities. The way I've described it just makes the most sense to me. If any of you have any problems with what I've done, feel free to ask the question, and I'll try and explain it to you. Otherwise, I'll see you in the next chapter. It's a bit of a time skip, covering the month, but I hope you'll get the gist of what happens.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Month of Training

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 8, The Month of Training**

For the next month, Ash Ketchum had quickly set up a schedule to keep to. He got up at 6:00 and learnt how to cook from his mother as he helped make breakfast and his lunch. He also helped prepare dinner for the evenings in the mornings, so that it could just be cooked straight away once either he or his mother came home first. Then he would head off the Professor Oaks Lab at 8:00 in order to continue his training with his Pokémon. When he gets there, he immediately starts up all of his Pokémon on warm ups so that they are more awake. He then sends the mornings going around all of them as they practice the new moves that Ash and they themselves had pointed out for them.

When Ash had learnt all of his Pokémon's current move sets, he found out that he needed to train in two specific areas. One of which was a more diverse move set. This was so that if they come across a time when their basic move set didn't work, they could at least have multiple fall back options. The other area was instead focusing on Ash trying to change his style of battling. After talking to Professor Oak and Gary, he learnt that his battling style was that of a sweeper, meaning that he hit hard and hit fast. Out of all of his Pokémon, only five Pokémon at a stretch could grind a win, Snorlax, Muk, Kingler, Torkoal and Corphish. As such, Ash decided that some more defensive moves wouldn't go amiss. As such, he took those five Pokémon, and had them spread around their knowledge of how to better defend themselves from attacks. It was only the speedy, more powerful, more experienced Pokémon that disagreed.

Charizard, Sceptile, Primeape, Tauros and Swellow had already settled into their battling style. Charizard, Primeape and Tauros were heavy hitters, it didn't make sense in their eyes to learn defensive tactics if they were only going to be on the offensive all the time. For Sceptile and Swellow, it was a case of they came from naturally fast species, so it didn't make sense for them to do something that was as good as alien to them. Fortunately, after much argument, Ash convinced them to at least look into defensive tactics. Charizard decided to focus more on Steel and Electric type moves, Strengthening Steel Wing so that it could block a vast majority of Rock type moves, and under Pikachu's and Bulbasaur's tutoring, learning Thunder punch and Solar Beam. Tauros decided to learn Protect, whilst Primeape took a different path and learnt Counter, so that it could hit back just as hard. Swellow and the other flying types joined Charizard so that they too could learn Steel wing, whilst they in turn would help Charizard in becoming a stronger flyer.

After spending the morning move practicing, they would have lunch, with Professor Oak, Tracey ad Gary coming outside to join them, and answering any queries that Ash would have about learning moves from potential types, as well as spending the time teaching Ash more about Pokémon than the average trainer would normally know. After an hours lunch, Professor Oak and Tracey would return to the Lab to continue undertaking their responsibilities, whilst Ash, with Gary's help, would direct his Pokémon in mock battles. Ash realized that sometimes, Pokémon needed the right motivation to successfully get a move perfected, and that was what these battles were. It benefited Ash, as he began to see how each of his Pokémon operates, and match it to his battling style. It also benefitted Gary, as it allowed him to collect more than sufficient data about Pokémon research. However, two weeks into the month, Gary elected to return to Sinnoh to continue his studies under Professor Rowan, the lead Pokémon Professor of the Sinnoh Region. Fortunately, his presence had been a massive boon to Ash's training, and he told his Pokémon from when he caught them when he was still a trainer to help Ash out as best they could.

Aside from the increased move sets, another thing that was plenty seen during the month long process was a number of Evolutions coming from many of Ash's Pokémon. The first one came from Corphish, who after a few days, evolved into Crawdaunt, a Water/Dark type, learning Crunch and Night Slash as well. Despite this, and Crawdaunt's initial bragging, he continued with his training with gusto, determined to do his trainer proud. The next one came from Bayleef, as she evolved into Meganium. Upon evolution, she decided to celebrate her success by slamming straight into her trainer in order to show her affection. The only downside came from Sceptile's initial reaction. He hated that he now had a reminder of her, the one who broke his heart and made him about as useful as a chocolate fire guard. However, he realised a few hours later that he was being stupid, and so decided to apologise to Meganium. She was confused as to why Sceptile was apologising, but she accepted none the less. The two then decided as fully evolved grass types, to learn Frenzy Plant, the Hyper Beam of Grass type moves.

Alongside Meganium's evolution were Cyndaquil's and Totodile's evolutions to their second forms, Quilava and Croconaw. Quilava had taken to Charizard's fire type training like a fish to water, and thus was able to expand his fire type move set, as well as learning some more defensive and varied moves. Croconaw's evolution was not long after Crawdaunt's evolution, where the Rogue Pokémon helped develop Totodile's Bite into Crunch. Later that day in a mock battle, Totodile was able to pull ahead and evolve into Croconaw in a match up against Crawdaunt, winning the match. However, out of all of the evolutions, the most surprising came from Bulbasaur and Squirtle. Years ago, when Bulbasaur refused to evolve, he and Squirtle made a promise that they would become the best they could be, without evolving. At the start of the training, they found themselves ahead of the pack, being two of Ash's strongest. However, after a few days, they saw that everyone else was making leaps and bounds towards getting better, whilst they seemed to stagnating, even lagging behind learning moves that took others less time to learn.

When Ash noticed this, he asked Professor Oak why this was happening, and he gave a rather simple explanation. In their first stage bodies, they didn't have the power to not only learn this moves and perfect them, but to also keep themselves from passing out. He then went onto explain where this power came from. It was either long constant training, where they would get fully comfortable with their body and their energy needs in order to be as efficient as they can be, as Pokémon would normally do in the wild. Bulbasaur and Squirtle where examples of this. The other way is evolution, as a large, more powerful body means it requires more energy, but can give of more power, and as such, have a bigger power level. This was more common amongst captured Pokémon, as not many trainers would now this, and their training would be a boost that wild Pokémon would never experience, unless they are trained. An example of this would be Charizard, who when he was a Charmander, was even with Bulbasaur and Squirtle, but when he evolved into Charmeleon and Charizard, his power levels increased greatly. Professor Oak then did explain that this meant that whilst Bulbasaur and Squirtle could learn more moves, it would take them much longer than it would anyone else. This meant that they were the best they would ever get. They could improve, but it would probably take years for any significant improvement.

Upon learning this, Ash did tell his two Pokémon that he wouldn't force any of them to do anything that they didn't want to. But later that night, the two Kanto starters stayed up late, just conversing with one another about whether or not they should evolve. Yes they could get stronger in their current forms, but like the Professor said, it could be years before significant progress could be noted. There were both pros and cons to the argument that kept both up all night, but in the end, it came down to four reasons why they should evolve.

For Bulbasaur, it was time to face his fears. He had always had a slight fear of Venusaur's, even despite though he had stood up to one once, he was shaking inside. And that was a part or him. How can he truly go on, being afraid of what is a part of him. And he wouldn't change; Meganium was still the affectionate Pokémon she was as a Bayleef and Chikorita, Croconaw still danced excitedly like he did when he was a Totodile. And even though Charizard had his personality change when he evolved first time, he eventually turned back into the loyal fire type he was when he was a Charmander, if a bit more arrogant than before. For Squirtle, it was about moving on. He had left the Squirtle Squad, permanently now. He was with his other family now, which meant he had to move on. The best way to do that, by no longer being a Squirtle.

Between the two of them there were two reasons as too why they should evolve. The first was Ash. Their trainer, their friend, who had sacrificed so much for them, even by letting them do their own thing, by helping them let go of past grievances, who had been with them every step of the way. And they were going to be selfish enough to not evolve, quite possible hampering his chance of fulfilling his dream. Yeah, not going to happen. They were going to be with him 100% of the way, just as he had with them. The fourth and final reason was plain and simple. They had fulfilled their promise of becoming the best they could be without evolving, and now it was time to go to the next level.

In the morning, before Ash had everyone set up with their moves for the day, Bulbasaur and Squirtle came up to Ash, and with a single nod, evolved at the same time, into Ivysaur and Wartortle respectively. After many assurances from Ash, Ivysaur and Wartortle that absolutely nothing had changed, the two had a double battle against Sceptile and Charizard. It was during this battle where they realised that all the moves they were having issues with were now perfected, even stronger than their peers. Another surprise from the two was one of the moves that they had learnt. They had learnt Frenzy Plant and Hydro Cannon respectively, thanks to their slow grind method of training. After a heated battle, Ivysaur and Wartortle stood victorious over Sceptile and Charizard, although many their knew that whilst part of their win was down to now raised power, another part was due to superior teamwork, as Sceptile and Charizard just kept trying to outperform one another. Such a performance did make a certain electric type think about whether it was time to evolve, but he knew that he still had much to learn, and wasn't their just yet.

By the end of the month, all of the team had improved greatly so, especially when just comparing move sets from before and after.

 **This Pikachu is Male and has the abilities Static and Lightening Rod. Its known moves are Thunderbolt, Thunder, Volt Tackle, Agility, Quick Attack, Iron Tail, Double Edge, Electro Ball, Slam, Brick Break, Light Screen, Magnet Rise, Signal Beam and Return.**

A lot of Pikachu's training came from largely diversifying his move set, increasing defence and even taking advantage of his speed. Magnet rise eliminated an electric types only weakness, Light Screen increased his defence, and Electro Ball took advantage of his already impressive speed. Lightening rod was learnt when Pikachu trained with Gary's Electivire with Electric type moves and taking them. As such, Pikachu eventually learnt Lightening Rod, becoming effectively immune from electric type moves. Return was learnt as they realised that concerning the bond between Pikachu and Ash, it would be extremely powerful.

 **This Ivysaur is Male and has the abilities of Overgrow and Chlorophyll. Its known moves are: Vine Whip, Leech Seed, Solar Beam, Sleep Powder, Tackle, Take Down, Dig, Poison Powder, Seed Bomb, Sludge Bomb, Venoshock, Light Screen, Energy Ball, Sunny Day, Leaf Storm, Frenzy Plant and Skull Bash.**

After Ivysaur's evolution, Ivysaur quickly set himself up as status battler by learning Poison Powder, and then learning Venoshock to help inflict further damage. He learnt Sunny Day to take advantage of Chlorophyll and to make more efficient use of Solar Beam. Leaf Storm was an upgrade of Razor Leaf, whilst Skull Bash was learnt from Wartortle.

 **This Wartortle is Male and has the abilities of Torrent and Rain Dish. Its known moves are: Water Gun, Withdraw, Hydro Pump, Skull Bash, Tackle, Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Pulse, Aqua Tail, Rain Dance, Iron Defence, Ice Beam, Brick Break, Swagger, Protect, Iron Tail, Hydro Cannon and Zen Head-Butt.**

Wartortle had trained himself to start becoming a tank. He could take damage, and then give out just as much. With Rain Dance, it allowed him to also regenerate with Rain Dish. Swagger seemed to just come naturally to a former delinquent who couldn't be caught. The rest of his moves where just moves that he felt best learning, giving him the ability to go up against most types of Pokémon.

 **This Charizard is Male, and has the abilities of Blaze and Solar Power. Its known moves are: Flamethrower, Fire Spin, Overheat, Skull Bash, Seismic Toss, Submission, Mega Punch, Slash, Steel Wing, Fly, Wing Attack, Air Slash, Dragon Claw, Shadow Claw, Dragon Pulse, Flare Blitz, Sunny Day, Brick Break, Iron Tail, Solar Beam and Thunder Punch.**

Charizard's training came from his battling style, to take opponents down, and take them down hard. He upgraded Dragon Breath to Dragon Pulse and learnt Dragon Claw with help from Professor Oaks Dragonite, lessons a few other Pokémon joined in on. He also upgraded Take Down into Flare Blitz, and learnt Brick Break and Iron Tail from Primeape and Pikachu respectively. He only learnt Shadow Claw so that he would have a weapon against pesky ghost types, especially Haunter, who had quickly set himself up as the prankster of the group, targeting Charizard in particular.

 **This Primeape is Male, and has the abilities of Vital Spirit and Defiant. Its known moves are Thrash, Mega Kick, Seismic Toss, Low Kick, Low Sweep, Karate Chop, Assurance, Cross Chop, Close Combat, Brick Break, Earthquake, Focus Blast, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Focus Punch, Night Slash and Ice Punch.**

There wasn't really much Primeape could train in. His role was mainly teaching others fighting type moves. He did however learn a few moves from others, like Night Slash from Crawdaunt. He essentially also just increased his move set so that he was similar to Charizard, so that he could hit opponents hard.

 **This Pidgeot is Female and has the abilities of Keen eye and Big Pecks. Its known moves are: Quick Attack, Whirlwind, Double Edge, Wing Attack, Hurricane, Sky Attack, Twister, Air Slash, Agility, Mirror Move, Roost, Tailwind, Aerial Ace, Fly, Hyper Beam, Protect, Steel Wing, Giga Impact and Heat Wave.**

Again, there wasn't much Pidgeot could learn, she just spent the month training the other flying types other flying type moves, as well as increasing her move set as well. When training, Ash did ask her why Fearow looked so unhealthy, and why did she immediately come back. After translating through Pikachu, it was revealed that the Spearow flock had ousted Fearow as their leader, because they were tired of his continuing vendetta against Pidgeot and by extension, Ash, and not focusing on feeding the flock. As soon as the coup happened, the Spearow Flock made peace with the Pidgey Flock, and both flocks formed into one. With multiple Pidgeots' and Fearows' no defending the flock, Pidgeot decided to step down as well, in order to keep the other Fearow from exacting revenge. She had left the Flock weeks ago, so she had nothing holding her back from re-joining Ash.

 **This Haunter is Male and has the ability of Levitate. Its known moves are: Lick, Hypnosis, Nightshade, Confuse Ray, Sucker Punch, Shadow Punch, Shadow Claw, Shadow Ball, Dream Eater, Dark Pulse, Psychic, Hex, Destiny Bond, Nightmare, Toxic, Venoshock, and Poison Jab.**

Haunter had learnt a lot of his moves whilst at the Saffron Gym, and as such had also set up his own battling style. He pranked, a lot. He already confused and placed opponents to sleep, now he learnt how to poison them and reap the awards from that. He instantly became one of Ash's trickier Pokémon to figure out what he was planning next. The only thing Ash could think of was getting Haunter to Gengar, but he had no way of doing that, even if Haunter wanted to.

 **This Kingler is Male and has the abilities of Shell Armor and Hyper Cutter. Its known moves are: Vice Grip, Leer, Stomp, Water Gun, Bubble Beam, Crabhammer, Hyper Beam, Mud Shot, Metal Claw, Protect, Guillotine, Slam, Brine, Hone Claws, Ice Beam, Swords Dance, X-Scissor, Iron Defence and Water Pulse.**

Kingler was another Pokémon that set themselves up as a Tank, as they couldn't move very fast, or be reliably accurate. So he learnt Iron Defence and Protect, to that he could withstand attacks, and learnt Hone Claws and Swords Dance, so that he was more accurate.

 **This Muk is Male, and has the abilities of Stench and Poison Touch. Its known moves are: Body Slam, Poison Gas, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave, Mud Bomb, Gunk Shot, Acid Armor, Screech, Minimize, Shadow Ball, Flamethrower, Protect, Toxic, Venoshock, Rock Slide, Poison Jab and Ice Punch.**

Muk's style was a mixture of using status conditions and tanking. It's Toxic spelt trouble for anyone, especially with Venoshock, and moves like Protect, Acid Armor and Minimize helped increase its defence. Its new moves effectively made it ready for any potential threats.

 **This Tauros is Male, and has the abilities of Anger Point and Sheer Force. Its known moves are: Fissure, Take Down, Horn Attack, Double Team, Rest, Zen Head-butt, Thrash, Giga Impact, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Bulldoze, Wild Charge, Strength, Protect, Iron Head and Outrage.**

Tauros battle style was a steamroller, it hit as hard as it could. Thus a lot of his training was bolstering his already powerful move set.

 **This Snorlax is Male, and has the abilities Thick Fat and Immunity. Its known moves are: Body Slam, Head-butt, Mega Kick, Mega Punch, Hyper Beam, Ice Punch, Tackle, Protect, Rest, Chip Away, Snore, Sleep Talk, Amnesia, Crunch, Heavy Slam, Giga Impact, Rollout, Protect, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Wild Charge, Double Edge, Zen Head-Butt and Focus Punch.**

Snorlax is set up to be Ash's go to Tank. He is also his high risk, high reward Pokémon, with his high number of recoil moves, but that is countermanded by his efficient use of Rest. Because of his Nature to also sleep a lot, Ash decided to bring that style into battle with Sleep Talk and Snore.

 **This Heracross is Male, and has the abilities Guts and Moxie. Its known moves are: Tackle, Horn Attack, Endure, Take Down, Megahorn, Sleep Talk, Focus Punch, Hyper Beam, Night Slash, Aerial Ace, Counter, Brick Break, Pin Missile, Close Combat, Bulk Up, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Iron Defence, Shadow Claw and Bug Bite.**

Heracross took to Primeape's training like a fish to water, and at the end of the month, became one of Ash's mixed battlers. It could tank, steamroll, sweep and thanks to Sleep Talk, Night Slash and Shadow Claw, was also able to go up against tricky ghost types.

 **This Meganium is Female, and has the abilities Overgrow and Leaf Guard. Its known moves are: Vine Whip, Tackle, Sweet Scent, Body Slam, Head-Butt, Magical Leaf, Solar Beam, Petal Blizzard, Petal Dance, Reflect, Light Screen, Aromatherapy, Earthquake, Energy Ball, and Frenzy Plant.**

Upon Meganium's evolution, whilst she still kept her very affectionate attitude, she also became very powerful, and thanks to a very powerful Sweet Scent, very devious as well. She did become somewhat of a motherly type, not just to Ash's Pokémon, but also to a lot of the new-borns at the corral, and thus, became part of Ivysaur's ambassador team, where she helped deal with the younger Pokémon.

 **This Quilava is Male, and has the abilities of Blaze and Flash Fire. Its known moves are: Flamethrower, Tackle, Agility, Smokescreen, Quick Attack, Swift, Flame Wheel, Aerial Ace, Defence Curl, Rollout, Double Edge, Dig, Lava Plume and Wild Charge.**

Quilava became more proficient with fire type moves, so much so that it learnt the ability of Flash Fire. This meant that coupled with Dig and Rollout, Quilava quickly established himself as something of an anti-fire type fire type.

 **This Croconaw is Male, and has the abilities of Torrent and Sheer Force. Its known moves are: Crunch, Water Gun, Head-Butt, Scary Face, Slash, Ice Fang, Chip away, Aqua Tail, Ice Beam, Brick Break, Water Pulse and Iron Tail.**

Upon evolution, some Pokémon do change slightly, some grow up, some mellow out, whilst some become more confident. Croconaw only became so much more energetic, so much so, that Ash found it pointless to try and teach Croconaw any defensive moves, as Croconaw just wouldn't stay still long enough. He did at least teach Croconaw Iron tail, to help deal with electric types.

 **This Noctowl is Male and has the ability of Insomnia. Its known moves are: Peck, Hypnosis, Whirlwind, Foresight, Tackle, Air Slash, Extrasensory, Sky Attack, Dream Eater, Psychic, Aerial Ace, Shadow Ball, Steel Wing and Heat Wave.**

During the training, Ash realized something about Noctowl. He wasn't his strongest flyer. Swellow had Speed and Agility, whilst Pidgeot had power. Noctowl had something else though, his mind. Noctowl was easily Ash's smartest Pokémon, and because of his unique move set, Ash decided to train Noctowl with fighting against ghost types in mind.

 **This Donphan is Male, and has the ability of Sturdy. Its known moves are: Tackle, Rollout, Take Down, Defence Curl, Earthquake, Hidden Power, Hyper Beam, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Rapid Spin, Giga Impact, Stone Edge, Earth Power and Iron Defence.**

Whilst Donphan was still young, it quickly grew in leaps and bounds over Ash's Battle Frontier journey, and continued to do so during the month training. Not only was he able to strengthen his current moves, but also learn new moves as well.

 **This Swellow is Male and has the Abilities of Guts and Scrappy. Its known moves are Peck, Wing Attack, Quick Attack, Aerial Ace, Double Team, Brave Bird, Air Slash, Agility, Steel Wing, Mirror Move, Ominous Wind and Sky Attack.**

After Swellow's embarrassment to Pidgeot and Noctowl on the day when everyone got together, he was determined to prove himself. Whilst Pidgeot set herself for power and Noctowl for his intelligence, Swellow did so for speed, and by the end of the month, had the agility and the speed to fly circles around most of his teammates.

 **This Sceptile is Male and has the ability Overgrow. Its known moves are: Slam, Quick Attack, Seed Bomb, Leaf Blade, Solar Beam, Agility, Leaf Storm, Frenzy Plant, X-Scissor, Screech, Hone Claws, Dragon Claws, Sunny Day, Aerial Ace, Energy Ball, Brick Break, Low Sweep, Rock Slide, Iron Tail, Night Slash, Detect, Swords Dance and Dragon Pulse.**

Throughout the month, Sceptile had only one goal, best Charizard. At the start of the month, despite Sceptile putting up a spirited fight, fell short against Charizard. However, as the month went on, and Sceptile learnt new moves, upgraded old, and learnt new techniques, everyone could tell that the fights were getting longer, and much closer. Towards the end of the month, Charizard was also similarly being pushed back, until in the final week, Sceptile finally beat Charizard in a one on one match, with a well-placed Rock Slide. Such an event ended their fierce rivalry towards one another, and the two did acknowledge one another as near equals.

 **This Crawdaunt is Male and has the abilities of Adaptability and Shell Armor. Its known moves are: Crabhammer, Bubble Beam, Vice Grip, Harden, Guillotine, Night Slash, Crunch, Razor Shell, Swords Dance, Ice Beam, X-Scissor, Dark Pulse, Water Pulse and Iron Defence.**

Crawdaunt became very good friends with Kingler, and as such, a lot of their training was done together, with one supporting another. Upon his evolution, Crawdaunt became Ash's first Dark type, something which was exploited almost instantly, and Crawdaunt became another Tank.

 **This Torkoal is Male and has the abilities of White Smoke and Shell Armor. Its known moves are: Flamethrower, Overheat, Iron Defence, Body Slam, Heat Wave, Smog, Lava Plume, Amnesia, Protect, Sunny Day, Solar Beam, Earthquake, Sludge Bomb and Gyro Ball.**

When Charizard and Torkoal met, Torkoal treated Charizard with reverence, whilst Charizard gladly took the Coal Pokémon under his wing so to speak. Torkoal was already powerful, Charizard just made him even more so, whilst Ash had Torkoal focus on bettering his already impressive defences, making Torkoal by the end of the month a well armoured artillery piece.

 **This Glalie is Male and has the Ability Ice Body. Its Known moves are: Icy Wind, Double Team, Head-Butt, Ice Beam, Crunch, Ice Fang, Protect, Freeze-Dry, Hail, Blizzard, Shadow Ball and Water Pulse.**

As Ash's only Ice type, no one really knew what to do with Glalie. However, Glalie was still young, so Ash decided to just keep training Glalie as best as he could. The result was better than expected, as Glalie filled out his ice type moves and learnt some other moves as well. However, Glalie and Ash knew that they still had lots of work to do.

 **This Aipom is Female and has the ability of Run Away. Its known moves are: Scratch, Swift, Focus Punch, Double Team, Agility, Screech, Shadow Ball, Iron Tail and Slam.**

Of all the Pokémon Ash trained over the month, Aipom was the hardest. She was very showy, and seemed to be more at home in the contest circuit. She did love to battle, but Ash just kept thinking that maybe she would be happier with a coordinator than with him

Whilst Ash kept training his old Pokémon, the trade profile also saw success. All five of the battle hungry Tauros had been traded, and whilst some of the Pokémon received did not match the preferences Ash and Professor Oak had listed, they were all Pokémon Ash was more than willing to take under his training. The first Pokémon was a young female Ralts. According to the trainer/breeder Ash received it from, they already had a Gardevoir, and wanted a Gallade to complete the set, in which they needed a male Kirlia with a Dawn stone to get a Gallade. As it gave Ash a Psychic type, Ash made the trade as quick as he could. Further research also showed that Ralts was also part Fairy type. When Ralts arrived, Ash quickly introduced the young Pokémon to the rest of the team. Whilst initially shy, the young Pokémon quickly grew comfortable under the guidance of Meganium and Noctowl, and after a few weeks, she evolved into Kirlia, and was already proving herself to be a potential powerful member of the team.

 **Kirlia, the Emotion Pokémon. Kirlia is able to sense the feelings of its Trainer, and when it becomes happy, it will start to dance. This Kirlia is Female and has the ability of Trace. Its known moves are: Confusion, Disarming Voice, Double Team, Teleport, Magical Leaf, Draining Kiss, Calm Mind, Light Screen and Reflect.**

The next Pokémon for Ash to receive through trading was another psychic type, a Beldum. This Pokémon was instead a former league Pokémon, captured by a Ranger after this Pokémon kept attacking other Pokémon and trainers near Lavender Town. After a few months of rehabilitation, the league official, Professor Hastings of the Pokémon Rangers, decided that it would be best to send it to a trustworthy Ace trainer to train. After learning of Ash Ketchum's recent promotion to Ace trainer, seeing his track record both in competitions and in potentially disastrous events, and seeing the potential of having a powerful Pokémon such as Tauros on hand, Professor Hastings decided to send Beldum to Ash for a Tauros, as both a reward and a challenge. Ash quickly accepted both, eager to get a Steel type on his team, and also eager to prove himself.

When Beldum arrived, it quickly tried to assert itself as the most powerful by trying to take on everyone. Suffice to say, it was soon served a hefty slice of humble pie, when it couldn't even defeat Aipom, with just Take Down as a move. It soon decided that maybe training with Ash would be more beneficial than trying to strike out on its own. After training with its Take Down attack with Tauros, Donphan and Primeape, Beldum's Take Down became even more powerful. Close to the end of the month, Beldum finally evolved to Metang, and quickly set about learning more of its move set.

 **Metang, the Iron Claw Pokémon. Metang is the evolved form of Beldum. Its highly developed intellect and strong magnetic force allow it to create powerful psychic energy. This Metang is 'Unknown' and has the ability of Clear Body. Its known moves are: Take Down, Magnet Rise, Confusion, Metal Claw, Pursuit, Bullet Punch and Miracle Eye.**

The third Pokémon to be traded was a Male Trapinch, who was very shy. Upon first meeting everyone, Trapinch decided that the best way would be to dig and hide. After much goading, Trapinch finally emerged and was introduced to the team. Almost instantly, Trapinch and Quilava hit it off, with Quilava remembering its shyness from when it was a Cyndaquil. Over the rest of the month, Trapinch also proved to be very powerful, similar to level of Sceptile when he was a Grovyle. After a few weeks, Trapinch evolved to Vibrava, and his confidence boosted with him now being part dragon as well.

 **Vibrava, the Vibration Pokémon. Vibrava is the evolved form of Trapinch. By flapping their wings, they create vibrations, emitting ultrasonic waves. This Vibrava is Male and has the ability of Levitate. Its known moves are: Crunch, Dig, Rock Slide, Bulldoze, Bide, Sonic Boom, Feint Attack, Supersonic, Screech, Earth Power, Bug Buzz and Dragon Breath.**

The fourth new Pokémon was a Female Vulpix. Despite not having one of his preferred types, Ash remembered how powerful Brock's Vulpix was when it was just a breeder's Pokémon. Also, the Vulpix species and their evolutionary line had latent psychic abilities, similar to Noctowl. As such, Ash accepted the trade with much gusto. When she arrived, it quickly turned out that whilst she was a fighter, she was also loved to be pampered, which was something Ash did as close to daily as he could to the Fox Pokémon. She quickly established herself as a powerful fire type, but Ash wouldn't evolve her until she had learnt everything she could as a Vulpix.

 **Vulpix, a Fox Pokémon. Its six tails are extremely beautiful. As it evolves, it grows even more tails. Vulpix uses powerful flame attacks. This Vulpix is Female and had the ability of Flash Fire. Its known moves are: Quick Attack, Confuse Ray, Payback, Will-o-wisp, Feint Attack, Hex, Flame Burst and Extrasensory.**

The fifth Pokémon Ash received from his Tauros immediately set things off to a weird start. When he talked to the trainer who wanted a Tauros, he offered a Pokémon that Ash had a vivid encounter in the past, a Porygon. Despite his previous encounter with the strange normal type, Ash was willing to move past this and train the Pokémon. What Ash didn't know was that Porygon was holding an Up-Grade, and thus upon completion of the trade, evolved into Porygon-2. Whilst disappointed that he couldn't spend time with Porygon, he was willing to start training with Porygon-2. The new Pokémon quickly became friends with Haunter for their love of pranks, and became just as tricky in battle.

 **Porygon-2, the Virtual Pokémon and the evolved form of Porygon. It was upgraded to enable the exploration of other planets. However, it failed to measure up. This Porygon-2 is 'Unknown' and has the abilities of Trace and Analytic. Its known moves are: Conversion, Conversion 2, Tackle, Sharpen, Psybeam, Agility, Recover, Magnet Rise, Signal Beam, Discharge, Lock-on, Tri-attack and Zap Cannon.**

His Pokémon weren't the only ones to improve over the month. During the early mornings and late evening, Mrs Ketchum taught her son how to cook, starting with basic preparation and learning to keep an eye on the cooking. After the month, whilst Ash wasn't up to Mrs Ketchum's or Brock's standard of cooking, everyone was able to agree that it was still very good. When Ash wasn't training with his Pokémon, he was also learning from Professor Oak, seeing that now he was an Ace trainer, he had to know a lot more about Pokémon than he used to. Unfortunately, Ash was never the learn from a book type, he needed experience. So Professor Oak decided to use his contacts to get Ash some low threat missions for Ash to complete, which also gave him sufficient knowledge to be more than just a competent Ace trainer.

As such, on some days, Ash would go on low level missions around the Kanto region, missions Professor Oak knew would not only give Ash a bit of experience in being an Ace trainer, but also help him learn more about Pokémon as a whole. The missions also gave his Pokémon a chance of real battles, not just spars between teammates. With the help of Professor Oaks Alakazam, were able to go to the place, complete the mission, and then get back home all in a single day. Thanks to Ash's love of Pokémon, he succeeded in these missions with flying colours, and was also able to expand his team roster with some more Pokémon.

 **Scyther, the Mantis Pokémon. Its claws are sharp as swords, and it is a powerful flyer. This Pokémon is rarely seen by humans and almost never captured. This Scyther is Male and has the Abilities of Technician and Swarm. Its known moves are: Quick Attack, Focus Energy, Pursuit, False Swipe, Agility, Wing Attack, Fury Cutter, Slash, Double Team, X-Scissor and Night Slash.**

Scyther was a Pokémon that loved to battle, so much so that it would challenge anyone who would come across it. Being in the Viridian Forest, this meant that the trainers it battled were not very strong. Ash was sent as he was the closest Ace trainer, due to the Pewter and Viridian Gyms undergoing refurbishment, and it was the perfect starting mission for a new Ace trainer. When Ash arrived on the back of Pidgeot, he set out to the areas Scyther was seen. He came across Samurai, who was also looking for the Scyther to add to his team. Both trainers decided to have a battle for old times' sake. Ash went with Heracross, whilst Samurai went with Pinsir. After a short while, Heracross's training proved true, and was able to defeat Pinsir. Little did the two trainers know, was that the Scyther had seen the battle, and upon the first rounds conclusion, challenged Heracross to a battle. After Samurai gave his consent that Ash should capture it, the battle started. After a short while, Ash saw that Heracross could not hope to match Scyther's speed, so told Heracross to use his defence instead. After a successful string of Endure, Aerial Ace and Stone Edge, Scyther was defeated, and Ash had captured it. Samurai gave his congratulation to Ash, who then headed back to Pallet with his new team mate.

 **Tangela, a Vine Pokémon. Its body is wrapped in vines. The rest of its form is hidden beneath these vines. This Tangela is Female and has the ability of Chlorophyll. Its known moves are: Ingrain, Constrict, Sleep Powder, Vine Whip, Poison Powder, Growth, Stun Spore, Energy Ball, and Giga Drain.**

 **Rhyhorn, the Spike Pokémon. Rhyhorn is known for its physical power and its considerable offensive and defensive skills. This Rhyhorn is Male and has the ability of Rock Head. Its known moves are: Horn Attack, Scary Face, Smack Down, Stomp, Bulldoze, Chip Away, Rock Blast, Drill Run, Take Down, and Skull Bash.**

 **Dratini, the Dragon Pokémon. Dratini sheds its skin as it grows, often doing so while hidden behind large powerful waterfalls. This Dratini is Male and has the ability of Marvel Scale. Its known moves are: Wrap, Leer, Thunder Wave, Twister, Dragon Rage, Slam, Agility, Water Pulse and Iron Tail.**

The next mission Ash undertook sent him to the safari zone, where apparently, a trainer had seen the local Dratini and Dragonair, and had spilt the information. This had sent people in droves to the safari zone to see the elusive dragon types. This was exactly what Kaiser, the warden, was worried about when Ash and company went three years ago. Upon seeing that Ash was now an Ace trainer, he immediately requested the 13 year old when no Rangers were immediately available to keep watch over the dragon types. Ash gladly went via Professor Oaks Alakazam, taking Tauros, Charizard, Swellow, Beldum (before its evolution) and Pikachu to help him watch over the dragon types. After reuniting with Kaiser, Ash went ahead to the lake where he personally knew where the dragon types where. He reunited with them, who also remembered the raven haired trainer. He released his Pokémon and set down for a long day.

Later in the afternoon, he heard a commotion and saw quite a few people with cameras and Pokéball's where heading in his direction, towards the lake. After readying his Pokémon, Ash told them to stop, and explained to the visitors that these Pokémon where very rare, and these where probably the only dragon types in all of Kanto, and where most certainly not a viewing spectacle. He also explained what happened to the Safari Park the last time people had come just for the Dragon types. This seemed to deflate most of the visitors, who stated that they just wanted a chance to see/capture a dragon type. Ash explained that they were free to try and catch them, just not in such massive droves, and that there were other Pokémon in the Safari Park, gesturing to his own Tauros. He further explained this by saying that he had been a trainer for nearly 4 years, and whilst he had Pokémon with draconic abilities, he never had a dragon type, and he did well (not knowing that Professor Oak was currently trading one of his Tauros for Trapinch).

A lot of the trainers then decided to go around the Safari zone to follow Ash's advice, whilst the photographers retreated to a safer distance in order to not disturb the Pokémon. At that point, Ash deemed it a job well done, when an angry Rhyhorn came charging in, angry at all the commotion. Ash had Tauros square off against the angry Spike Pokémon, and the two met each other in a Take Down competition. Fortunately, Tauros proved the stronger and defeated the Rhyhorn, which Ash shortly captured in order to gain a strong Rock type. By the end of the day, Ash was about to head back when three Pokémon came up to him, Dragonair, Dratini and a Tangela. Through Pikachu, Ash learnt that Dragonair had decided to effectively move house, saying that this was twice now she had almost caused damage to the Safari park. However, she also explained that the two younger Pokémon by her side where quite adventurous, as well as best friends since birth. Both were old enough now to go on a journey, but didn't want to split up from one another. As such, she wanted Ash to capture both, seeing that he was willing to defend them, and that they could go far with him as their trainer. Ash accepted, and captured Dratini and Tangela before Dragonair went to the Dragon Holy land in Johto, and Ash headed home, now that his job was done. He told Kaiser what had happened, who was sad, but agreed that it was for the best. He also mentioned that sooner or later, he would have to retire any, before thinking that Blackthorn City did seem a good retirement spot. He said good bye to Ash, who then headed home via Teleport. He returned home to find he had also gained a fourth Pokémon that day in the form of Trapinch.

 **Magneton, the Magnet Pokémon. The evolved form of Magnemite. Its heavy gravitational power allow it to float, and it can emit powerful magnetic and electric fields. This Magneton is 'Unknown' and has the Ability of Sturdy. Its known moves are: Tackle, Supersonic, Sonic Boom, Thunder Wave, Magnet Bomb, Mirror Shot, Thunderbolt, Metal Sound, Tri Attack, and Flash Cannon.**

 **Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon. Eevee is a unique Pokémon that can adapt to its environment by changing its form and abilities when evolving. This Eevee is Female and has the Ability of Adaptability. Its known moves are: Tackle, Swift, Quick Attack, Shadow Ball and Iron Tail.**

Ash's third mission had him travelling to Cerulean city, where they were experiencing some power outages. As a place of a Water type gym, the league thought it best by sending Ash, who had many a ground and grass type to call upon. Unfortunately, Ash didn't like how they just brushed aside the Cerulean gym, where one of his best friends was the Gym leader. So he decided to show the league a thing or two, and took all his water types, Noctowl and Pikachu with him. He also decided to visit Misty whilst he was in Cerulean, and pick her brains on water types. Little did he know, Misty had the same idea when she heard that the league was sending her an Ace trainer to deal with the power outages. Outraged that she had been passed over for some 'up jumped trainer who probably used a Rattata against the Pewter Gym' she decided to give this Ace trainer a piece of her mind and trusty mallet. Little did she realise that she was overheard by said Ace trainer, who calmly replied whilst chuckling to himself 'it was actually a Pikachu, put there really isn't much difference is there Misty'. Upon hearing the voice and realising who the Ace trainer was, she apologised profusely before congratulating Ash on his promotion. After a while catching up, Ash showed her the Pokémon he had brought, making Misty laugh that he had brought Pokémon all weak to electric types, something the league wanted to avoid.

Afterwards, to two decided to see if they could follow any leads about the electrical shortages, and later found themselves heading to Cerulean Cape, where Bill was working. After reuniting with Bill, and telling him their predicament, Bill gave them a device that could track abnormal electrical readings, the two headed back to Cerulean City. Just before they left, they saw two Eevee's, one playing in the water by the beach, whilst the other just basked in the sun. Bill explained that he was now researching evolution, and that Eevee was the perfect Pokémon to research this phenomenon. Upon returning to Cerulean City, they decided to go the Ceruleans Highest point on a hill to watch over the city at night time, and to also see where the electrical shortages would happen. When they saw some blocks in the North western part of the town, near Cerulean Cave, lose power, the trio headed there as quickly as they could. Following the scanner, they came across a Magneton draining the electrical energy. Ash quickly sent out Wartortle to battle the electric/steel Pokémon. When a Thunderbolt came their way, Ash ordered Wartortle to use Iron tail and to ground it, similar to what Winona used in his Gym Battle in Hoenn.

Because of this, and after several rounds later, Magneton had been defeated and subsequently captured by Ash. When Misty saw this, she questioned why Ash would capture one when he already had Pikachu. Ash explained to her that he already had a Bulbasaur and Squirtle when they went to Johto, and that didn't stop him from capturing Chikorita and Totodile respectively. He also explained that whilst Pikachu would remain his number one partner, he needed a more defensible electric type to countermand Pikachu's speed, and Magneton fit the bill perfectly. The next day, the two returned to Bills to give him back the scanner, where he gifted them with a gift each. He had learnt all they could from the Eevee's, so decided to give the two the Eevee's. Misty took the water loving one, whilst Ash also took the one that preferred basking in the sunlight. When they returned to Cerulean, Misty and Ash said their good byes and Ash returned to Pallet via Teleport.

Ash's final mission of the month was to oversee the Orange Island Championships. Now that the championships where an official part of the league, and the only two official champions were Drake and Ash. As such, Ash decided to take his Pokémon that helped him win the Orange League; Pikachu, Wartortle, Tauros, Charizard and Ivysaur. He would have had the full team, but Ash had released Lapras years ago, and hadn't seen him since they meet in Johto, where he was now the leader of the Lapras heard. However, because of the time of year, Ash was hoping that he would be able to meet up with his old Pokémon. Ash's mission was just to represent the Indigo league. He was the perfect choice, as he was the only person to defeat Drake in Battle.

He found out that despite the official designation of the Orange league, there wasn't much of a ferry system. Due to the shallow water and the lack of distance between islands in the archipelago, the Orange league didn't ask to implement a ferry system as it would be too difficult and expensive to maintain. Also, by the time trainers decided to take part, most of the time they would either have a large flying type to fly around the islands, a large water type to ferry them, or a powerful psychic type to Teleport them. Ash found out that due to the unique nature of the Gyms, very few trainers had collected the four badges to challenge Drake, with only four trainers making it to Pummelo Island. After a small tournament, an Orange League winner was announced, a David Shingle from Pewter City. He was set to face Drake next. However, he too was caught up with Drake's Ditto, and was not able to beat Drake. Whilst disappointed, David did promise to try again next year, where said that he would be Drake next time, which Drake did reply that he would be looking forward to it.

After thanking Drake for inviting him to see the tournament, Ash began to head home. However, about half way between Pummelo and Pallet, he saw a large, very suspecting ship heading east of his position. Recognising the area where his former Lapras was reunited with his family, Ash decided to follow on Charizard to see where they would be going, and to also hope for the best. What he saw made him proud and happy, whilst also very angry. The ship was a poacher ship, looking for rare Lapras, and had come across a pod of Lapras, and where attacking them. Fortunately, the Lapras seemed to be holding their own with many Hydro Pumps and Ice Beams taking out the many poachers Pokémon, some of whom where types that held and advantage over Lapras. Ash had Charizard and Pikachu join in with Dragon Pulses, Flamethrowers, Thunderbolts and Signal Beams, quickly knocking out a lot of poacher's Pokémon. Ash then quickly ordered them to stand down. Seeing that all of their Pokémon where knocked out, and this clearly powerful trainer had a powerful Charizard as back up, the poachers complied.

Soon, the coast guard and some Pokémon rangers turned up and arrested the poachers whilst thanking Ash. Ash was soon to leave when he heard something behind him. Turning around, he saw one of the Lapras coming up to him. Ash immediately recognised it as the one he used during his journey throughout the Orange Islands. After a heartfelt reunion, Pikachu then translated for Ash that Lapras wanted to re-join Ash. Lapras had stepped down as Leader a while back, and the pod had grown stronger as had he, so they would be alright, and they didn't mind his choices. As such, Ash's final capture of the month was his old Lapras, who had decided to re-join Ash's team.

 **Lapras, the Transport Pokémon. Lapras enjoys carrying people on its back, and it understands what people are saying. This Lapras is Male and has the Ability of Shell Armour. Its known moves are: Sing, Confuse Ray, Ice Shard, Water Pulse, Body Slam, Rain Dance, Perish Song, Ice Beam, Brine, Hydro Pump and Safeguard.**

After a long month of training an mission, in which Ash had seen his old Pokémon grow in leaps and bounds, new Pokémon become a part of the team, and old friends reuniting with him, Ash felt more than ready to begin his Journey once more, and to take Sinnoh by storm.

 **Additional Notes: Okay, first things first. This Chapter, whilst fun to write, also took longer than expected. I had to go back and forth and back and forth between this and Bulbapedia just for all the Pokédex entries. Secondly, some of you may be thinking "he did all of that in one month?" The answer, yes he did. Initially, I was just going to have the old Pokémon and the traded Pokémon turn up. But then someone gave me the idea (they know who they are) to have Ash travel Kanto and maybe pick up a few more Pokémon. I saw it as a way to not only get some Pokémon, but to also include some Ace trainer missions as well, and introduce some old characters/friends as well. Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review or comment as always, and I'll see you next time.**


	9. Chapter 9: The Journey to Sinnoh

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 9, The Journey to Sinnoh**

At 6:00 on the first day of the month, a blue watch suddenly went off as it was programmed to. This in turn woke up the owner of said watch, a 14 year old raven haired boy. Alongside him woke up a foot tall yellow mouse. Both of them turned to the alarm on the watch, before the raven haired boy turned it off. Upon noticing the date however, he immediately broke into a massive grin, much to the confusion of the yellow mouse. "Todays the day Pikachu"

"Pika"

"Todays the day we finally go to the Sinnoh region"

Pikachu continued to remain confused at Ash's statement, until he to saw the date and realise what it meant. "Pi Pikapi"

"Come on, we better get ready, we've got a lot to do today" Ash was answered with a affirmative nod from Pikachu, and the two set about getting ready. After a quick shower, Ash got dressed in his new travelling gear, new clothes that his mother had got him for his Birthday not the other week. After a short while, Ash was decked in said new clothes. His hat was similar to his 'Hoenn' hat, but with a blue Pokéball motif instead. His hoody was no replaced with a think white and black jacket done up, with a white undershirt underneath. The white and black jacket had a large, upturned collar and a yellow strip across his lower chest. He was wearing thick blue jeans, and his trainers were now black with a red motif. However, he kept the same fingerless gloves that he wore to Hoenn. Turning around he saw his backpack, which was packed the night before.

Picking it up, and with Pikachu on his right shoulder, Ash left his room and headed downstairs to do his and his mums breakfast. Half way through, Mrs Ketchum came downstairs with a happy smile on her face after seeing her baby boy all grown up and ready to head out again. After a long breakfast, the clock turned 8:00, and Ash knew he had to leave now. "Okay mom, its best I head out now so I don't miss the ferry"

"Hmm, yes you best had. Explain to me what's happening again? How are you getting to Sinnoh?"

"I'm going down to Professor Oaks to collect the Pokémon I'm taking and to say goodbye. Then, I'm flying on Charizard until we hit the Charcific Valley, we we'll split up again so he can continue his training for the foreseeable future. Then, using Pidgeot, we'll head down to Goldenrod City, to catch the ferry to Sinnoh. I have told you this before mom"

"I know, but it's best to keep telling yourself things like this just so you don't forget" Mrs Ketchum said with a smile to her son, causing anime sweat drops to appear on his head. "Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence mom"

"I aim to please honey. Now, do you have everything?"

"Yes"

"Your spare clothes"

"Yes"

"Your first aid supply"

"Yes"

"Your food"

"Yes"

"Your underwear"

"MOM!"

"I'm only teasing honey, don't look so embarrassed"

The two headed towards the door, with Pikachu and Mr Mime close behind. As both Ash and Pikachu exited the house, they turned back to Mrs Ketchum to say goodbye. "Now, you know that I'll be watching you every step of the way Ash, you'll always have my support, just remember to call, okay"

"Yes mom. Thanks mom"

"Now go on and show Sinnoh what you can do"

"You can count on it. See you soon Mom!"

"Pika!"

And with that, Ash and Pikachu started to run to Professor Oaks Lab, whilst Mrs Ketchum watched as her son continued on his quest. Sighing fondly, she returned indoors, to get ready for a shift at the Restaurant.

Ten minutes later, Ash and Pikachu are bounding up the Labs stairs to meet Professor Oak, collect his Pokémon and set off to Sinnoh. Going up the stairs to the upstairs lab, they saw the Professor working at his computer desk. Upon hearing footsteps, Professor Oak turned and saw his protégé enter the Lab. "Ah Ash, early I see"

"Yeah Professor, I want to make good time on getting to Sinnoh, I'm just so excited I can't wait to get there sooner"

"Ah, to be young and full of energy again. Now, which Pokémon are you taking to Sinnoh young man?"

"Well, Pikachu is a definite, as is Pidgeot and Charizard. After thinking about it, I also want to take Glalie, Aipom, Eevee, Vulpix and Kirlia just for now"

"I see, taking some of the younger ones first are we?"

"Yeah, it gives them more experience, and those Pokémon haven't travelled with me long at all, so allows me to connect with them more"

"Okay, but what about Scyther, or Vibrava. They haven't travelled with you long have they?"

"No, but they are older, and have made close friends with the other Pokémon here so wouldn't be as lonely"

"Hmm, I suppose not. It is good to see you thinking things through now" Professor Oak stated fondly as he turned to collect those respective Pokéball's. Upon handing them to Ash, Professor Oak continued his conversation. "Now, I'll expect you'll be off"

"Yeah, I want to get there on good time"

"No need to rush, you have plenty of time. The ferry doesn't leave Goldenrod until four o'clock this afternoon, so you have plenty of time" Professor Oak then escorted Ash to his Pokémon in the corral, who were lined up and waiting for their trainer. Ash then turned to address the assembled Pokémon. "Okay guys, as you know already, Pikachu, Pidgeot and Charizard are with me initially, so that I can get to Goldenrod, and so that Charizard can head back to the Charcific Valley on the way" Everyone seemed to be alright with this statement, as it made the most sense. "Now before I say who else is coming with me, every one of you will be in Sinnoh with me. It may not be today, but you all should come on over" Again, no-one made any noises of disagreement, knowing that even with 12 Pokémon, not everyone could go. Ash took a deep breath before saying "The Pokémon coming with me are Glalie, Aipom, Eevee, Vulpix and Kirlia. Now just because….AAAAHHHHH" Upon stating who was coming with, the said Pokémon decided the best way to show their appreciation was to swarm their trainer, tackling him to the ground. With Eevee and Vulpix licking his face, Kirlia and Aipom hugging his chest, and Glalie was rolling around the pile in glee. Whilst the others were disappointed about not going just yet, they all smiled at the scene and knew what Ash had done, taking the youngest with him first.

As soon as Ash had disentangled himself from the impromptu pile, he turned to the other Pokémon, where some where smiling sadly, whilst others gave him nods of respect as to what he had done. Charizard then stepped forward and lowered himself, so that Ash could climb on easily. Ash then returned the Pokémon he was taking to their respective Pokéball's, before turning back to the rest of the Pokémon and Professor Oak. "I promise that all of you will come to Sinnoh, just please be patient". Stepping onto Charizard's back, he turned to Professor Oak, who had a few more words of advice for him. "Now Ash, I want you to go all the way this time. Don't let any mistakes hold you back. You have been brilliant this past month, especially with your Ace trainer Missions. Do us proud, and go the distance."

"I will, and I will win the Sinnoh League"

"Pi Pikachu"

"Char"

"Come on Charizard, let's go" And with that, Charizard took off, flapping his large draconic wings. Ash's departure was accompanied with significant calls from his Pokémon, as Professor Oak turned around and started making his way back to his Lab.

About an hour later, Ash, Charizard and Pikachu where making their way over Kanto, and where just about to pass by Mount Silver. Ash was focusing on the path ahead when he started hearing a ring tone.

'Ring, Ring'

Confused as to what it was, Ash frantically looked around, before realising that the ringing was coming from his Xtransceiver. He decided to answer it, and was met with the face of Professor Oak. "Ash, my boy, just quickly, where are you?"

"Uhhh, Professor? We're just about to pass Mt Silver. Why?"

"Good, your close. Listen Ash, the people in charge of the Mt Silver Pokémon reserve have just contacted me looking for you. Apparently, someone wants to meet you at the reserve. I told them I would get in contact with you to see if you were close by, and to get you to go there and see what was up."

"Uhhh, okay sure. Shouldn't take long, right?"

"Of course not, if it does stretch over however, call me, and I'll setup a new way to get you to Sinnoh. Call me if you need it, and let me know of the development"

"Off course Professor, I'll call soon" With that statement, the Professors face disappeared, to be replaced with coordinates to where the reserve entrance was. After telling Charizard the general location, the fire/flying type turned around and headed towards the place. Not ten minutes later, Charizard landed, with Ash and Pikachu dismounting. Upon stretching, Ash recalled Charizard and headed inside the facility. Almost instantly, Ash recognised Ranger Mason, the female ranger in charge of the Pokémon reserve. It seemed that she recognised Ash as well, as she quickly made her way over. "Ash Ketchum. Never thought I would see you again huh?"

"Yeah, imagine my surprise when I found out you wanted me here. Why did you want me here anyway?

"Well, someone wanted to see you" With that statement, Mason took Ash outside, where not even getting 10 metres outside, was tackled by a green blur. Upon recovering, Ash looked down to see small green, squat Pokémon, with stubby arms and legs, a red underbelly, and a fanned tail. This was a Larvitar, more specifically the one Ash helped protect before reuniting him with his mother. "La-Larvitar?"

"La"

"It is you Larvitar"

"Pika pi" Pikachu then quickly reintroduced himself to the rock/ground type, getting reacquainted with Larvitar. Whilst this was happening, Ash picked himself up and turned to Mason confused. "Why did Larvitar want to see me?"

"Yesterday, Larvitar and his mother came right up to those doors" Mason explained whilst gesturing to the doors they had just walked through "When I came to see what was up, I saw the two of them embracing one another, and then Tyranitar just walked away, whilst Larvitar just turned to me expectantly. I took Larvitar in, where it started messing around with the photos I have. Eventually, it came across one of you, and gestured to you and the video phone. I realised that Larvitar wanted to meet up with you for some reason, so I called Professor Oaks Laboratory, hoping to catch you. Now here you are" As Mason, finished explaining, Ash turned back to Larvitar, who was now looking at Ash with a small grin on his face. "Ash bent down to Larvitars level and gently asked him "So what did you want Larvitar?" Larvitar answered by gesturing to the Pokéball's on Ash's side, easily signifying what he wanted. "You want to come with me Larvitar?"

"Larv"

"Is that alright Mason?"

"Normally, I would say no, but because Larvitar seems set on it, and because you did help in the past, I'm willing to allow it" Upon Masons words, Ash broke into a wide grin, whilst Larvitar and Pikachu cheered at the prospect. Ash then threw a new Pokéball at Larvitar, capturing him with little hesitancy. Ash then decided to scan Larvitar, to see where he stood in terms of training.

 **Larvitar, the Rock Skin Pokémon. Larvitar generally hatch deep within the earth and take a long time before coming to the surface. This Larvitar is Male and has the ability of Guts. Its known moves are: Screech, Hidden Power, Harden, Bite, Dig, Chip Away, Rock Slide and Scary Face.**

After scanning Larvitar, Ash said goodbye and thank you to Mason, before releasing Larvitar to do the same. Upon releasing Charizard, who also introduced himself to the little rock/ground type, Ash, Pikachu and Larvitar climbed on and continued their journey. When they were flying over the reserve, they heard a similar roar, and saw Larvitars mother, Tyranitar, saying a final goodbye. As Larvitar also said goodbye, Ash decided to include his two cents "Don't worry, I'll take good care of him! Just you see!" Tyranitar answered his call with another Roar, which was joined by Charizard, Larvitar and Pikachu, as they said goodbye and continued heading towards Sinnoh.

The next day saw Ash waking up in his cabin on the cruise liner heading towards Sinnoh. Before he woke up, he remembered the events of the previous day. After meeting up and capturing Larvitar, the four made good time to the Charcific Valley. Charizard landed and re-joined his fellow Charizards, showing them his new move pool, with Charla watching with admiration. Liza similarly saw through Ash's Xtransceiver what new moves Charizard had learnt, and was eager to see them in practice. After spending an hour at the Charcific Valley, Ash said goodbye to Liza, Charla and Charizard, telling the latter that they will see each other again in Sinnoh. Charizard could only answer with a Flamethrower to Ash's face, whilst Pikachu and Liza could only chuckle. Ash and Pikachu then climbed upon Pidgeot, and took off to Goldenrod city, accompanied with a powerful Flamethrower.

In another 2 hours at a steady pace, the trio made it to Goldenrod city at around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. With 3 hours to spare, Ash decided to get on the Ferry early and have a late lunch on the ship. Despite the no Pokémon in the dining area sign, Ash was able to get food for his Pokémon to eat on the deck, with the stern warning from the waiter that if it breaks, he pays for it. After a hefty lunch, Ash returned everyone to their Pokéball's and took them to his room, so that they wouldn't be in the way of when everyone else coming on board the ship. At 4 o'clock, the ship began its overnight ferry to the Sinnoh region. At 6 o'clock, Ash took his Pokémon to the designated feeding area, and had dinner with them. After dinner, they spent a while on deck, with the younger Pokémon playing with each other, and by the time the sun set, Ash and his Pokémon where on their way back to the cabin. A couple of hours later, Ash and all his Pokémon where fast asleep.

Now, at 10:00 the next morning, after a hearty breakfast, Ash, Pikachu and all his Pokémon where on deck at the bow of the ship, watching as the Sinnoh region drew ever closer. With Ash leaning against the railing, Pikachu and Aipom on top of his right and left shoulders respectively, Eevee and Vulpix between his legs, Glalie hovering just behind him, with Kirlia and Larvitar by Ash's sides. Meanwhile, Pidgeot was above the group, flying alongside the ferry. All of them where looking towards the incoming mass of land, some with views of wonder and awe, but for Ash, Pikachu, Glalie and Pidgeot, they had looks of determination.

About an hour and a half later, Ash had returned everyone bar Pikachu to their Pokéball's, packed what little stuff he had brought out on the ferry, and was exciting the ferry onto the docks near Sandgem Town.

"Well, we finally arrived, huh buddy"

"Pi Pikapi"

"We had best find a private area, contact home to say we're okay huh"

"Pi ka chu pi" Ash brought his Xtransceiver up to his face, and began dialling his mother first whilst Pikachu watched on. Soon, the Xtransceiver's screen changed from its display to a screen similar to a TV, and after a few short moments of static, the screen showed Mrs Ketchum's slightly surprised face. "Ash, what a surprise, have you made it to a Pokémon centre already?"

"No mom, I just got of the Ferry just know, just wanted to let you know that we all arrived safely.

"You sure have grown up haven't you, I didn't hear from you for weeks when you went to Hoenn, now here you are calling me up, so grown up" Mrs Ketchum seemed to begin wiping imaginary tears as she teased her sons forgetfulness, whose cheeks turned red with embarrassment knowing that even though he's on an entirely different region, is mother can still tease him. "Anyway, have you contacted Professor Oak yet?"

"Uhhh, no, I haven't, why?"

"Well, apparently he's called ahead to Professor Rowan, he's the regional professor of Sinnoh. Anyway, Professor Oak asked if Professor Rowan could help set you up for the Sinnoh League. It would also give you a could starting point for your Journey"

"Really, that's great mom, thanks for telling me. Anyway, I've got to get going now. I talk to you later"

"Okay honey, see you later, and remember to have fun" 'Click'

A few moments later, Ash's Xtransceiver was a screen of snow again as he dialled Oaks Laboratory. Meanwhile, Pikachu noticed that a couple of people were wearing clothing far too warm for this weather, and where much too interested in Ash and himself. After a few seconds, Professor Oak appeared on Ash's Xtransceiver. "Ahh, Ash my boy, I take it you got to Sinnoh alright?"

"Yeah, just got off the ferry not 10 minutes ago. My mom said you wanted to tell me something about a Professor Rowan?"

"Yes, I called ahead and he is expecting you at his lab. He is going to register you for the league, and has a badge case that he can give you. I'll e-mail you where his lab is, just go to him and sort yourself out, and then head back to Sandgem's Pokémon centre for the night, and start in full tomorrow."

"Sounds great Professor, thanks. I'd best get going then huh. I'll keep in touch"

"Off course my boy, if you need anything, don't be afraid to call, and I'll sort you out. Take care now." 'Click'

"Well, we had be best get started hadn't we buddy?"

"Pi Pikapi" Upon hearing a notification, Ash and Pikachu turned back to the Xtransceiver, and after seeing Professor Oak had sent the e-mail. After reading it through, Ash clicked on the link, which brought up a map of the southern eastern part of Sinnoh and a highlighted area that seemed to be east of their position. "Right, so Professor Rowans Lab is on route 201, just to the east of here. Doesn't seem like a far walk, does it buddy?"

"Ka chu Pikapi"

Suddenly, a load wiring sound was heard, and a strange two-pronged claw was seen heading straight towards Ash and Pikachu. Unable to act quick enough due to the shock of the event, the claw had grabbed Pikachu, and was reversed towards a very shady looking trio, the same trio who had paid very close attention to Ash whilst he was on the videophone. Because of the recognisable hair and shape of the trio, Ash immediately knew what was up.

"Team Rocket, what are you doing now!?" With a flourish, Team Rocket revealed themselves, and despite their numerous past failures, decided that arrogance was the best course.

"You see twerp, this is just a culmination of 4 years grievances that we are collecting right now" Jessie stated with an arrogant smirk.

"We overheard your conversation about heading to Sinnoh, and decided to spend your month of training as our month of preparation" James haughtily said with a sneer on his face.

"We did this so that anything that you did would be prepared for, of course considering you like to start again every region, we knew you wouldn't have anyway of stopping us" Meowth stated with a wide Cheshire grin on his face as he held the claw up. What any of them didn't see was the grin spreading across both Ash and Pikachu's faces. Ash got two of his Pokéball's ready, and turned to team rocket to simply say "Well you got that wrong didn't you. Pidgeot, Glalie, I choose you!"

"PIDGEOT!"

"GLALIE!"

Suffice to say, the looks on Team Rockets faces would have been enjoyable if not for the situation everyone was in. Jessie turned angrily to Meowth to state her displeasure "Why didn't you think of a preparation for this Meowth!"

"Well how was I supposed to now he'd bring other Pokémon!" Meowth argued angrily back.

"Doesn't matter now, just defend our prize, Cacnea, Carnivine, beat them back" James tried to get everyone back on track by starting the battle. Unfortunately, James has always had the more affectionate grass types.

CRASH

"Not me you two, them, them!" James shouted trying to pry his affectionate grass types of him. Ash was interested in the new Pokémon James released, but decided now wasn't the time to get distracted. "Alright, Pidgeot, use Agility to get yourself moving, Glalie, use Double team to surround them" Not even hesitating, Pidgeot began moving at incredible speeds, making the rocket Pokémon incredibly dizzy, whilst Glalie surrounded them with copies of himself, furthering their confusion.

"Carnivine, use Bullet Seed, knock that bird out of the air, Cacnea, use needle arm to take out those copies"

Despite the quick commands, they were effectively useless, as Pidgeot was much too fast, especially for an untrained Pokémon such as Carnivine, and there were just too many copies for Cacnea, who quickly made himself tired. Ash quickly leapt onto this dilemma in order to take advantage of the chaos, not knowing what would happen.

"Pidgeot, use Twister, Glalie use Blizzard" Once again, with little hesitancy, the two Pokémon answered the call, and unleashed their attacks on the two Rocket Pokémon, blowing them back to the main group. Unfortunately, Pikachu had used his time to try and break free, and when the Twister and Blizzard got to Team Rocket, and the distraction forced a Thunderbolt from Pikachu. The electric, dragon and ice type moves all converged, and exploded, causing Team Rocket to once again, blast off. Only this time Pikachu also blasted off as well alongside them.

"NO, PIKACHU!" Ash watched helplessly as he saw his best friend land in the forest of route 202. Seeing that the explosion had also knocked Pidgeot clean out of the sky, he wasn't going to force her to fly in her condition. "Pidgeot, Glalie, return" A red beam brought back the two combatants, and after a quick thanks, Ash released Kirlia, Aipom and Vulpix. The three Pokémon looked confused, as their release was quiet, and Ash's frowning face only made them worry. "Listen girls, Pikachu's been separated from us by a bunch of crooks, and Pidgeot was injured trying to save him" Upon Ash's statement, all three female Pokémon grew increasingly worried, especially for the one who was considered the elder brother to them all. "Vulpix, I need you to try and sniff out Pikachu, see if you can follow his scent" Vulpix answered with a nod, and began to sniff around the area Pikachu was last. "Aipom, can you take to the trees and try and spot from above for us" Aipom to answered with a nod and scrambled up the nearest light pole to look around. Ash turned to his final Pokémon for his final request "Kirlia, I know your Psychic powers aren't that strong yet, but can you use them to find Pikachu in the forest" Kirlia also answered with a nod, and after settling herself on Ash's shoulder, began using her powers to pinpoint the direction Pikachu should be in. A few moments later, Kirlia and Vulpix were able to pick up their respective trails, the same direction Pikachu was seen falling. "That's great girls, let's get going"

Ash then broke into a steady run, with Vulpix running alongside, Aipom in the trees above and Kirlia holding on, all prepared to look for the elusive electric type. All Ash could think about was getting to Pikachu, and making sure he was safe and sound. _"Don't worry buddy, I'll get you, and we'll be together again"_.

Meanwhile, a few miles down from route 201, in a house in Twinleaf Town, a 13 year old girl was preparing to leave to Professor Rowans Lab to receive her starter Pokémon. She was just over 5 feet and was wearing black V-neck tank top with a white undershirt and a pink skirt. On her head, she wears a white beanie with a pink Pokéball print on it. She also wears gold hair clips that hold up her hair in front. On her feet, she wears pink knee-high boots with black socks underneath. This was Dawn, an she had dreams of becoming a Top Coordinator. Little did she know of the journey that would take her there.

 **Additional Notes: Finally in Sinnoh, with another member to the team. I am going to be dealing with Team Rocket permanently soon, as they do get annoying rather quickly.**

 **Just a quick heads up about the update schedule for this story, there is no update schedule. Chapters will be effectively uploaded first chance I get to, but it should be no more than a fortnight between chapters. If it does get to that, I will let you know before hand.**

 **Other than that, feel free to review and comment, and I'll see you next time.**


	10. Chapter 10: New Partners All Around

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 10, New Partners all around**

After a rather hectic morning, Dawn had finally begun her journey to become a Top Coordinator. She was currently cycling down Route 201 on her way to Sandgem Town, after just picking up her first Pokémon from Professor Rowans Laboratory. As she was cycling, she was thinking over how her day had gone thus far. Her day began with waking up and initially getting ready for her journey. But according to her mother, Johanna, and Dawn's inspiration for becoming a Top Coordinator, a large suitcase was not practical for Dawn, to carry. How else was Dawn going to take all of her clothes on her journey!?

Anyway, Dawn settled on a smaller backpack with the basic necessities, with her mother telling her that she would mail send Dawns dresses to her as long as she is given sufficient notice. Afterwards, Dawn got on her bike and set off towards Professor Rowans Laboratory, where she would pick up her starter, a choice between the grass type Turtwig, the fire type Chimchar, or the water type Piplup. After visualizing herself in contests with each of the starters, Dawn decided that anyone of them would be terrific partners. After a while, she had made it to Professor Rowans Laboratory, but only after she had bumped into the man himself, all 6 foot, brown trench coat and suit with a blue waistcoat, and white hair, including an intimidating moustache and sideburns. After being initially scared of the seemingly forever frowning man, Dawn calmed down when she realised who this was. Together, both of them went to his Laboratory for Dawn to choose her Pokémon.

However, by the time they get to the lab, they learn there has been a slight mishap in his absence. Apparently, the Chimchar had stolen some of the Piplup's food, causing a fight between the two, causing the Starly and Staraptor that Professor Rowan was using for his research into Pokémon evolution, to panic and fly out the window, followed by Chimchar and Piplup respectively. Despite initial reluctance on his part, Professor Rowan allows Dawn to go look for the missing Pokémon, after giving her some tips as well. Dawn initially finds Piplup still fighting Chimchar, but they continue to scurry away, forcing Dawn to continue after them. She then finds Piplup stuck in an Ariados web, who isn't pleased with the intrusion. After a quick bit of cunning, Dawn saves Piplup from the web, but to only then fall down a hill. At the bottom, Piplup expresses its indignation at being saved by pecking Dawn multiple times.

Unfortunately, the Ariados finds them, along with several of its brethren, who immediately surround the two. After Piplup drives of the Ariados with a combination of Bubble beam and Bide, Piplup faints due to it being tired. After feeding Piplup some Pokémon food, they walk through the forest, stumbling upon Lake Verity. Looking up, they both see Starly and Staraptor flying overhead, with the Chimchar in Staraptor's talons, looking very sheepish indeed. Deciding that the way they're going must be the direction of the lab, and both Dawn and Piplup decide to follow. Before they can however, the lake ripples suddenly, with no wind, and a figure rises up from the lake. It was small, no bigger than Piplup, and seemed to have Pink extensions on its top, with two long tails as well. The figure disappears as quickly as it appeared, and Dawn and Piplup head back to the Lab.

After a while, Dawn makes it back to the Lab, where she explains the figure to Professor Rowan, who explains in turn that Dawn may have just seen a Legendary Pokémon, something very few people eve get a glimpse of. Putting that to once side as 'being lucky' Professor Rowan turns to Dawn and after giving her a Pokédex and a set of five Pokéball's, asks her which starter she would like. Dawn decides on Piplup, as they are already a team. Dawn then sets out for her Pokémon journey in earnest, riding away from the lab, with Rowan and his assistants waving her off.

Dawn is now travelling down Route 202, away from Sandgem Town, and had decided to try and catch her first Pokémon. She pulled over and immediately releases her new partner, Piplup.

"Okay Piplup, Spotlight!"

"Piplup!"

"Okay Piplup, look around for any Pokémon we can catch, okay?"

"Piplup" Piplup and Dawn immediately start searching, and both see a new Pokémon in the bush several metres away. "Oh wow, a Buneary" Dawn recognised the Pokémon from seeing them around Twinleaf all the time, but still uses her Pokédex to register the sight.

 **Buneary, the Rabbit Pokémon. By quickly extending its rolled-up ears, it can launch a powerful attack against its enemies.**

"Okay Piplup, use Bubble beam" Piplup nodded with an affirmative, and launched a barrage of blue bubbles at the Rabbit Pokémon, who jumped out of the way. Unfortunately, Dawn was not paying attention. "Oh wow, I called an attack, this is so exciting"

"Piplup!"

"Uh?" Dawn refocused on the battle to see that the bubble beam had done nothing. "Okay then, Piplup, move in close and use Peck" Piplup charged in with his beak starting to glow. Unfortunately, the Buneary dodged by ducking, and knocked Piplup out with a single Dizzy Punch. "Oh no, Piplup!" As Dawn ran towards her knocked out Pokémon, Buneary jumped and used Dawns head as a springboard to get away. Undeterred, but slightly annoyed at the Buneary, Dawn crouched down to cradle the knocked out water type. Upon waking up, Piplup had a look of extreme disappointment on his face. "Don't feel bad Piplup"

"Pip?"

"It was our first time, but next time, we will win for sure!" Dawn finished this statement with a pose that screamed confidence, a pose that was copied not moments later by Piplup.

Later, Dawn is cycling through the forest of route 202, with Piplup now in the basket of her bike. Dawn is talking about becoming a coordinator, and her plans to partake in the Jubilife Contest as her debut. She stops however when she sees a Burmy hanging from a branch over the road. She decides that this is her best chance to prove herself.

 **Burmy, the Bag Worm Pokémon. To protect itself from the cold wind, Burmy uses leaves and branches to make a cloak around itself.**

"Okay Piplup, let's try this one more time. Use Bubble beam!" Piplup's answer was to leap out of the basket and launch another barrage of bubbles at the bug type, which scored a direct hit, causing Burmy to fall and lose its leaves. Naturally, Dawn was ecstatic. "We did it Piplup, we did it!"

"Piplup!"

"Huh?" Dawn turned to where Piplup was frantically pointing, and saw Burmy going at a fantastic speed to collect all of its leaves. Dawn quickly remembered what to do next.

"Ahhh! Need a Pokéball. Need a Pokéball. Need a Pokéball. Ah ha!" Dawn fumbled around in her back pack, before getting a Pokéball, only to see that Burmy had vanished. This was disappointing to the young coordinator. "Ohhhh, this is harder than I thought"

"Pip, Piplup" Piplup was now the one trying to console his partner

"Your right Piplup, I guess I can make mistakes too huh" This didn't go down well with the water type, whose prideful nature made him turn his head away from Dawn in a snooty, arrogant manner. This action however alerted him to the new rustling in the bushes. Said noise also alerted Dawn, who immediately shot back to her feet to confront the rustling. "Huh? Who's there?" She said with a bit of curiosity. Out of the bushes came a Pokémon. The new Pokémon was about a foot tall, yellow with black and brown markings and red cheek pouches. It also had a tail, stylized like a lightning bolt. It also seemed to be marked with quite a few bruises and scratches, as it fell out into the clearing, seemingly exhausted. Not recognising the Pokémon, Dawn got out her Pokédex for a scan.

 **Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon. It can generate electric attacks from the electric pouches located in both of its cheeks.**

"Oh, and electric type huh. You sure you want to try this Piplup?"

"Piplup!" Piplup was assured of victory, never mind the fact that he had the type disadvantage. "Okay then, use Bubble beam" Another barrage of bubbles where launched, this time towards the Pikachu. However, the Pikachu seemed to wake from his impromptu nap, and immediately launched a Thunderbolt, whose sheer power went straight through the Bubble beam, hit and launched Piplup into Dawns bike, frying both of them. After a 5 second burst, the thunderbolt died down, revealing a knocked out Piplup and a crispy bike on the side. Dawns expression turned from shock at the sheer power of the attack, to horror at seeing her Pokémon and mode of transportation being cooked, to then anger at the Pikachu, who was scratching his head sheepishly, as is this seemed to happen on a daily basis. "That does it! Pokéball, go!" Dawn angrily threw the Pokéball at the Pikachu, who was then enveloped in a red light, which was instantly dissipated and the ball was returned to Dawn, who now had an expression of confusion on her face. "Hang on, this means you're someone else Pokémon, right?"

Dawn was answered with a twitch of the Pikachu's ears, which then crouched down on all fours, its fur bristling with anticipation, sparks coming from his cheeks, eyes darting back and forth, almost as if it was looking for an invisible enemy. Said enemies appeared not moments later, when three Pokémon, a long purple and black snake with fangs, a small cactus and a tall Venus fly trap all jumped out of the bushes at different angles, all converging on the yellow mouse. Pikachu answered their attack with an Iron tail which batted the snake away, before using a Signal Beam that hit the other two Pokémon, causing them to crash. Dawn was completely astounded at the speed in which all that just happened. The three attacking Pokémon where pretty fast, but the Pikachu was even faster, using moves that she didn't even recognise. On top of that, she was confused as to where this Pikachu's trainer was, and why where the other Pokémon attacking it. Piplup, who had recovered enough to wake up, was wondering what the Pikachu did to get so strong. There musing where cut short by a series of angry exclamations.

"Hey, that's no fair! Sneak attacks are supposed to work"

"Just what training did you and the twerp do over the month?"

"Who cares?! Just grab Pikachu, and quickly before he scampers away again!" The voices came from a bush, where Dawn and Piplup saw three beings arguing. One was female with red hair stylized to look like part of a P or a R. Another was male with blue shoulder length hair. Both were wearing white uniform with a red R on the chest, explaining the female's hair style. The third however, was not a human, but a small, cream coloured Pokémon, that was talking. Actually talking. Dumbfounded, Dawn fished out her Pokédex to look at the talking Pokémon and the attacking ones as well.

 **Meowth, the Scratch Cat Pokémon. It sleeps a lot during the day time and during the night-time it becomes active, moving around its territory.**

 **Seviper, the Fang Snake Pokémon. Seviper is known for its angry disposition, immobilizing its opponents by wrapping its body around them.**

 **Cacnea, the Cactus Pokémon. Cacnea lives primarily in dry desert areas, and attacks by swinging its pin covered arms like hammers.**

 **Carnivine, the Bug Catcher Pokémon. It uses its sweet smelling saliva to catch its prey.**

Upon hearing the automated voice of a Pokédex, the trio turned and first noticed that they were not alone. The female quickly recovered first, addressing Dawn directly. "Well, what do you want twerp!?"

"Uhhh" Still being dumbfounded at the events that just occurred quickly gave way for the rest of Team Rocket to join in, with Meowth jumping in next "Yeah, just buzz of for a moment, we'll deal with you in a minute" James was next to add his two cents, but unfortunately, not in the way everyone else was expecting. "Besides, we were stealing that Pikachu first, so why just OOOWWW!" Realising the route James was taking, Meowth and Jessie quickly hit James to shut him up. "You dolt, you didn't need to say that!" Jessie exclaimed. "We could've just let her walk away thinking this was a training session!" Meowth quickly added. However, Dawn was able to add everything together, the Pikachu's bruises, the aggressiveness of the other Pokémon, the trio's choice of words. Dawn was able to see that this lot was up to no good.

"Hold on. Are you lot trying to steal this Pikachu?"

Realising that they had been caught out, the trio quickly did some sort of motto, introducing themselves as Team Rocket. However, their jubilation at reciting their motto was quickly stolen with Dawns next words. "Never heard of them" Cue anime style drop. After quickly recovering, Jessie decided that now was the time to lay down the law. "Listen blue twerpette. If you want to keep your Pokémon, then walk in the other direction and leave us be. Otherwise, we'll be taking your Pokémon as well"

"Yeah, that's not going to happen" Dawn retorted to the now shocked trio. "If you think I'm just going to walk away from this, you have another thing coming" Dawn quickly adopted a battle pose, with Piplup standing to her left, ready to battle. She could also see in her peripheral vision that Pikachu had positioned himself on her right, backing her up, but also slightly forward, like he was ready to do battle. However, Dawns statement only caused the members of Team Rocket to begin to laugh, in a superior than thou way that just made Dawns blood boil. After calming down a bit, Jessie turned her smug face towards Dawn, and calmly refuted her claim. "Well then, in that case, Seviper, use wrap, keep that twerpette down." James quickly joined in with the assault not a second later. "Cacnea, use Needle arm on Pikachu, Carnivine, bullet seed on the penguin"

However, during the three rocket Pokémon's three pronged assault on our heroes, Pikachu quickly placed himself in front of Dawn and Piplup, raising a Light Screen, which deflected all of the attacks. As both Seviper and Cacnea were pushed back, Pikachu then quickly followed up with a Quick attack, slamming into Carnivines mid-section, before using Agility to quickly take back his place in front of Dawn and Piplup. Once again the two were astounded at the sheer speed and power the small Pokémon had. However, Pikachu wasn't done just yet, as he jumped high up into the air, and began charging up an Electro Ball, flinging it at the criminal trio and their Pokémon. Once the ball of condensed electricity hit, it caused quite a large explosion, causing the rocket trio to once again, blast off into the stratosphere.

Dawn and Piplup still had the gob-smacked look on their faces when Pikachu landed on his hind legs, nodded to himself as if to say 'job well done', turned around to the shocked duo, walked over to them and stood not one meter away from them. The seconds turned to minutes, and Pikachu was starting to worry whether he had accidently caused the earlier Light Screen to imprison them in that spot. Cautiously, he went over before poking Dawn in the leg and shaking Piplup. What he didn't expect was the reaction he got out of them not a second later.

"THAT WAS AMAZING!"

"PIPLUP PIP LUP!"

"I mean, there we were, waiting to do battle and then you just come along and just go POW, WAP, ZAP, and then KABOOM, not even in 10 seconds"

"PIPLUP PIPLUP PIPLUP PIPLUP PIPLUP LUP!"

Pikachu could only stare in shock at the duo. He was sure the girl was exaggerating with her '10 seconds' and he was downright confused at the penguins demands that he tell him how he got so powerful. Unfortunately, Pikachu's are not Pokémon built for endurance, and the day's events quickly caught up to the electric type, causing a grimace in pain and for him to fall down onto all fours. Thankfully, this caught the attention of both Dawn and Piplup, who quickly ended their makeshift celebrations.

"Oh my, are you okay?"

"Piplup?"

"Guess he's a lot more injured than we thought huh Piplup?" Dawn asked her partner as she picked up the grimacing Pokémon.

"No need to worry, Sandgem Town isn't far, we'll just head back that way and go to the Pokémon Centre, then we'll contact Professor Rowan, he'll know what to do"

"Piplup" Piplup responded with an affirmative nod.

"Okay, Piplup, Return" In beam on red light, Piplup entered his Poké ball. Cradling the not-wild Pikachu, Dawn turned back around in order to head back to Sandgem, only to see that her and Piplups skirmish with Pikachu had made her bike crispier than crispy bacon.

"Really making this difficult for me, aren't you?" Dawn asked the Pokémon who was seemed to have fallen asleep, if only lightly. Shaking her head, Dawn fully turned to face the path she had come, and in a light run so as to not jostle the injured Pokémon in her arms, headed back to Sandgem to seek Professor Rowans advice.

* * *

Meanwhile, a group rumbling engine sounded, and a white motorcycle with sirens was road from Sandgem town to Professor Rowans Laboratory. Inside said motorcycle, driving was Sandgem towns Officer Jenny, and in the side car, was Ash Ketchum, carrying Vulpix and Kirlia in his arms, whilst Aipom was hanging onto his head. After a while of running, Vulpix had seen that the sent had began to teeter of into the woods between route 201 and 202. As such, Ash then decided to head to Professor Rowans Lab, to tell the Professor about what had happened, and possibly gain the Professors help, as well as using the Lab as a starting point. A short while later, Officer Jenny had pulled up, telling him that some bystanders had seen his alteration in Sandgem, and had alerted her as quickly as possible. She then headed the way Ash had gone, and was now offering the young Ace a ride to the Professors Lab. Ash accepted, and now, the group of five where making excellent progress into getting to Professor Rowans Lab.

A short while later, Officer Jenny pulled up to what must be the Lab. Ash turned around to quickly thank her. "Thanks for the help Officer Jenny"

"No problem, I'll head back to Sandgem to start searching around route 202, call me if anything changes" Officer Jenny replied before turning the engine of the motorcycle on and heading back the way she came. After seeing her go, Ash turned to enter the Lab. upon entering, he saw a quite young man in a blue shirt serving a pair of Pokémon, one of which was a small black and white bird, and the other looked very similar, only much larger and more aggressive, with the feathers on its head in a style similar to that of a hair style, with the tips dipped in red. The stranger turned around hearing the doors open, and saw Ash walking in, seemingly looking for someone. As such, he decided to see what the young man was after.

"Hello there, what can I do for you?" Shocked at being talked to, Ash turned to the man who had addressed him, and knowing that this wasn't Professor Rowan (Professor Oak had joked that Rowan was nearly as old as he was), quickly answered the young man. "Uuhh, yeah, I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet town, I'm looking for Professor Rowan" A flicker as recognition appeared in the mans eyes.

"Ah yes, Ash Ketchum, we've been told to expect you for some time now. Well, my name is Augustine Sycamore, former researcher assistant of Professor Rowan, now Professor at Lumiose Labs"

"Lumiose Labs?"

"Yes, located in Lumiose City, in the Kalos region. I used to study here in Sinnoh with Professor Rowan as my tutor before I became a fully qualified Professor. I've just recently been allocated the role of Pokémon Professor of the Kalos region, allowing me to begin handing out starter Pokémon to young trainers starting out on their journey" Unknown to Ash, Augustine had subtly lead Ash out of the lobby and was taking him towards the main lab area, where Professor Rowan was located. However, Augustine continued on with his short story. "Wait, so if you're the Pokémon Professor of Kalos, why are you here?"

"Well, considering Professor Rowan taught me everything that I know, I figured it wouldn't hurt to see how the process of giving out start Pokémon goes. It also gave me a chance to look into some recent research that had appeared that correlates to my own research"

"Your research? What do you study?"

"That's a story for another time. Ash, I would like to introduce you to one Professor Rowan, Professor Rowan, this is Ash Ketchum, the trainer Professor Oak told you about" Ash now only just realised that Professor Sycamore had taken to Professor Rowan, and was now introducing him to the Sinnoh region Pokémon Professor.

"Ahh, so this is the young trainer Samuel keeps singing praise about. Professor Rowan, at your service" The aged professor held his hand out, which Ash quickly shook. Then the past day's events caught up to Ash, and he remembered the reason why he was so quick to get here. "Professor Rowan, it's an honour to meet you, but I have a serious problem."

"Yes, I know, you want to get signed up to the Sinnoh League, correct"

"Well, uuh, not yet Professor, you see…" Unfortunately, it seemed that Professor Rowan had stopped listening.

"Well, come on, let's get you squared away, I'll need your Pokédex for this"

"Uhh, Professor"

"Now, whilst I set yourself up, let me just give you a bit of advice, Sinnoh is a big region, and had lots of strong Pokémon inhabiting the region, so you need to…"

"Professor, would you stop for a moment please!" Both Sycamore and Rowan where shocked at Ash's outburst, before Professor Rowan shook himself out of his stupor. "Well, what's the matter then" Ash then spent the next 5 minutes condensing down the day's events as quickly as possible, knowing that the longer he spent not looking for Pikachu, the more likely it wold be that Team Rocket would get to him first. As he told the 'story' he noticed that both Professor Rowans and Sycamores faces grew ever more sombre and even grimmer at the events of Ash's 'story'. Soon, Ash finished his story, and waited to hear the two professors thoughts on the matter. He didn't have to wait long.

"Ash, do you think that Vulpix and Kirlia can pick up their retrospective trails again" Sycamore asked with a concerned face.

"Uhh, yeah, they should be able to"

"And your Pidgeot and Glalie were injured in the alteration with this Team Rocket, correct" Rowan then asked Ash.

"Well, they were thrown back, and Pidgeot did seem to land awkwardly onto her wings, why" Professor Rowan seemed to think for a moment, before he enacted his plan of action. "Well then, leave Pidgeot and Glalie here, my assistants will take care of them. Sycamore?"

"I'll head out with Gabite and we'll start searching the upper forest area, gain a view from up on those cliffs" Professor Sycamore drew out a Pokéball and headed out the Lab with several quick strides. Professor Rowan then turned back to Ash and continued his plan. "You were going to head back to where the trail peeled of, correct young man"

"Uhh, yeah, I was, around about a sign saying route 201, with signs saying Twinleaf this say and Sandgem this way"

"Around just over half way down the route, good. Very well then, return to that spot and continue your search in the woods, I'll coordinate some of my staff to help out with everywhere from here to the sign, whilst you do effectively the sign to Sandgem. That way we should cover everywhere quite easily before it gets dark"

"Wow, really. Thanks professor, you're a big help" Ash then turned back to Vulpix, Kirlia and Aipom, and saw that all three had determined looks and grins on their faces. Kirlia eyes where already glowing a faint blue, indicating that she had been re-searching for Pikachus 'signature' the whole time. "You girls ready"

"Kirl"

"Vul"

"Aipom!"

"Alright, lets get going" Ash proceeded to grab Kirlia in his arms whilst Vulpix and Aipom began running alongside. Just as they left the Lab, Ash turned his head back to the Lab, and waved his thanks to Professor Rowan.

* * *

Just under half an hour later after Ash had left to begin searching for Pikachu, Professor Rowan had coordinated his staff to help begin looking, them taking the Starly and Staraptor with them to search from the sky's. Professor Rowan had just quickly sorted everything out and placed both Ash's Pidgeot and Glalie in the restoration machine to begin healing them, when his video phone starting buzzing. Answering it, he saw that it was the very same trainer who he had given a starter Pokémon to earlier today, one Dawn Berlitz. With her was the Piplup he had given out, and low and behold, a Pikachu. "Hi Professor Rowan"

"Miss Berlitz, I take it your in Sandgem town, at the Pokémon centre"

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe the day I have been having. First me and Piplup have been trying to catch our first Pokémon, but we weren't very success. Then after we do fail to catch a Burmy, this Pikachu come out, all bruised up and all. Anyway, I see it as a quick catch, so I send Piplup after it. Not ten seconds later, this Pikachu had battered Piplup away, knocked him out and FRIED MY BIKE!" Rowan saw that the Pikachu, who certainly looked well trained, rub his head sheepishly, whilst Dawn continued her story. "Then, these crooks appear and start calling themselves Team Rocket and saying they were trying to steal this Pikachu" At this Rowan knew that this must be Ash's Pikachu, and thank God that Dawn had found him first. "But Pikachu again, beat them all back, three Pokémon, in less than ten seconds" here, Pikachu did a so-so gesture saying it was probably more than ten seconds. "Then he collapsed, I carry him all the way to the Pokémon centre to get him treated, and now here we are" Dawn then posed in a very smug disposition, one that said she believe a job well done, a move copied by Piplup.

However, Pikachu simply raised his eyebrow at the duo, with Professor Rowan copying the actions almost simultaneously. "And what are you going to do know, Miss Berlitz?" Said question threw Dawn off completely as she quickly tried to find and answer. "Uhh, well, you see…., I was wondering if it would be a good idea to send Pikachu to you, so you could, I don't know, put a bulletin up, or something"

"Hmm, if you had called half an hour ago, I would say that is a good idea, but fortunately, Pikachu's Trainer, Ash Ketchum came in not half an hour ago, and told me the situation" Rowan say that Pikachu's stature then straightened up with sudden happiness"

"Pikapi?"

"He's currently on his way back to Sandgem to continue searching in the forest for Pikachu. My recommendation would be to either wait for him at the entrance to Sandgem from Route 202, wait at the Pokémon centre, or meet up with him in the Forest"

"That's brilliant, professor, I'll meet up with him. Come on Piplup, Pikachu, let's go. Thanks Professor, Bye" 'Click'. With that, Dawn was gone, obviously heading out to meet up with Ash along the route. Rowans only hope was that the two didn't completely miss on another. He then decided to re-call his assistants back to the Lab. "I suppose Augustine would want to meet up with them, make sure that everything goes okay" With that, Professor Rowan returned to the video phone to contact his assistants, hoping everything would go okay.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ash and his Pokémon where had just hit the area where Vulpix had noticed Pikachu's scent had gone off. Ash had been forced to recall Kirlia earlier as her continuous use of her Psychic abilities had drained her, so Ash recalled her so she could rest easily. Ash was just waiting for Vulpix to regain Pikachu's scent, when he heard a rumbling engine, and saw a large truck getting closer. Ash noticed it was coming from the direction of Sandgem. The truck started blowing its horn and slowing down, before it stopped in front of Ash, and out of the Passenger side climbed out a familiar face.

"Ash!"

"Brock?"

"Seems great minds think alike huh?"

"Yeah but what are you doing here?" Brock also had a different attire on than when he went to Hoenn. Keeping with the brown and orange motif, Brock was now wearing a Jacket undone with a green undershirt. He also had a similar trousers and trainers, as well as a very large hikers bag pack.

"Well either you two now each other, or you're too friendly Brock" A strange southern sounding voice asked, which Ash identified with the driver of the truck. "This is Ash, one of my oldest friends. He and I have been travelling together for a long time" Brock answered the southern accent, who appeared to be a young female adult with a red shirt with a star motif and denim short-shorts.

"The names Claudina, and I'm the driver of this big rig"

"Hi, nice to meet you" Ash said in a polite tone. That was before Brock place his arm around him, and started gushing.

"Yeah, Claudina and I are on the road, the road to true happiness and love!"

"Yeah, but in a truck?"

"Ash, it's a long and complicated journey when you want to become the best. I was hitch hiking from Pewter City when we hooked up, it was fate"

"Fate?"

"It's been great seeing you pal, and the best of luck in anything you do" 'Ring, Ring' Brocks jubilant talk (read crazy love struck ramble) was interrupted by a mobile phone ring, Claudinas, which was promptly answered by the truck driver. "Hi there honey, I've been waiting to hear your sweet voice calling me"

"HONEY!"

"Sure, I'll be right there, just as soon as these eighteen wheels can get me there." After putting the phone away, she turned back to Brock, who's heart was now slowly being crushed, again. "I'm sorry about interrupting you two, but that was my boyfriend on the horn, and I'm going to have to hightail over to meet him faster than a Volt Tackle. But I know you'll be fine, after all you got your bud" Brocks face was continuously set to utter disbelief, as Ash slowly activated his camera on his Xtransceiver to capture the moment. Misty and Max would love to see that their good work continues on in spirit. "I'll leave you two to mosey along" Claudina shut the passenger door, and started up the engine to her truck, ready to leave. "See you around Brock, and thanks again for the great lunch and dinner" With that, Claudina and her truck where gone, never to be seen again.

Brock was still stuck in is stupor for a few more moments, in which Vulpix was able to regain a faint whiff of Pikachu's scent and bound over to her trainer, only to be confused at the new person next to her trainer. Brock quickly shook himself out of his stupor to pose with a fist in a raised manner, a determined pose, if it wasn't offset by the rivers of tears streaming down his face.

"AAAHHHHHHH. Alright Ash, a man's got to do what a man's got to do and these two men are going to do it with or without a good women by their sides"

"Know that's fighting talk" It was at this point Brock noticed the empty spot on Ash's right shoulder, and began wondering where the third member of their near constant trio was. "Wait, where's Pikachu?" Ash's face quickly set into a more forlorn state, with worry written all over him. "That's a long story Brock"

"Vul!"

"Huh, Vulpix, did you get it?" Ash turned to the expectant fire type, who answered Ash, with an affirmative nod. Brock was now even more confused. _"When did Ash get a Vulpix?"_

"Great, come on Brock, I'll give you the short version now" Ash began following Vulpix into the woods, with Aipom coming off his head and going into the trees above.

"Huh, Ash, wait!" Brock quickly ran after Ash, who promptly began the short version of what happened the past month.

* * *

About ten minutes later, Ash and Brock where walking down a path in the forest with Vulpix leading and Aipom in the trees scouting ahead. Brock had just head about Ash's month of training and preparation, and also the events of today as well. "Wow, that Team Rocket just doesn't know when to quit, huh"

"Yeah, but hopefully this will be the last time"

"How so?"

"Because I'm going to give them a choice this time." Brock was slightly astounded at how cold Ash sounded, but then realised that if a trio of crooks had tried continuously to try and steal a Single Pikachu for 4 years, then he would be a bit cold to them as well. Meanwhile, Aipom had grown a bit bored of just endlessly swinging, so she decided to add a bit of flair, doing flips and spins throughout. What she didn't see was the Starly that just so happened to fly right in the path, causing a collision. Naturally, this caused both Pokémon to immediately start attacking one another.

"Aipom, this is no time to be messing around!" Ash recognised the Pokémon as one of the same species he saw at Professor Rowans Lab, and as he didn't get a chance to earlier, he decided to use his Pokédex on his Xtransceiver.

 **Starly, the Starling Pokémon. Starly normally travels in a flock, but when alone, it is hard to notice.**

"Ash, I think you should try and catch this Pokémon"

"Huh, really? Why?"

"This seems to obviously be a Flying type, which would be a great boon to our search. Also, you always catch each regions noticeable flying type, so why not start now?"

"Yeah, your right. Aipom, back off from it, but don't engage yet!"

"Aipom!" Aipom jumped back from the offending Flying type and settled into a fighting stance, with Starly doing the same 10 metres away and in the air.

"Aipom, use Screech!" Aipom released a powerful soundwave, instantly and severely lowering Starly's defences. However, the flying type responded with a Whirlwind, knocking back Aipom and cutting of the Screech. It then shot forward with a white streak behind it, indicating a Quick Attack, which successfully struck Aipom.

"Quick, Aipom, grab on with your tail, and use Slam!"

Aipom's training quickly showed as she recovered almost instantly and grabbed Starly with her tail, successful stopping it from flying away. Aipom then followed up the next set of attack, jumping up and slamming Starly into the ground. As Aipom jumped away and landed, the Starly quickly flew out of the dirt, slamming into Aipom with a Wing Attack, forcing Aipom to land not far from Ash. Ash noted that whilst the Starly was able to recover from the Slam, the previous screech had really thrown it off, and the Starly was currently on its last legs.

"Okay Aipom, finish it off with Swift!" Aipom once again complied, her tail glowing and the following streak drawn by the tail forming stars that shot towards the Starly, who tried to dodge the attack, but didn't seem to realise that swift couldn't be dodged, and was hit with the Swift. Starly fell to the ground, swirls in its eyes. A moment Ash capitalised on.

"Okay, Pokéball, GO!" Ash threw the unassigned Pokéball, which hit the knocked out flying type and absorbed it. The ball later clicked, confirming the capture. Ash picked up the Pokéball, and almost felt like celebrating, but didn't.

"Something wrong Ash?"

"Huh, oh, nothing. It's just Pikachu is nearly always with me when this sort of thing happens"

"Well then, you'll just have to introduce them when we find Pikachu, huh"

"Yeah, now, before we head of" Ash opened Starly's ball, and the flying type came out, now awake.

"Starly"

"Hey Starly, just going to do a few things first okay?" Starly nodded in compliance towards its new trainer, as Ash fished out a Potion from his back pack, a move that greatly impressed Brock. "Carrying your own potions know Ash. Soon you won't even need me."

"Don't worry Brock, I'll find you something to do if you feel left out" Ash quipped in good humour to his old friend as he sprayed Starly's wounds with potion. Afterwards, he got out his Pokédex app again and scanned Starly.

 **This Starly is Male, and has the Ability of Keen Eye. It's known moves are Whirlwind, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, and Growl.**

"Not a bad move set considering this area is the route 1 of Sinnoh" Brock commented on Starly's already existing move set.

"Right, plenty to work with, but before we do. Starly, we need your help" Ash quickly brought up a picture of Pikachu on his Xtransceiver to show Starly. "We've been separated from one of my partners, Pikachu. If you were willing, could you help us?" Starly was quick and eager to prove himself to his new trainer, and quickly nodded with acknowledgement before flying above the tree clouds to begin searching from above. Ash then turned to Brock, Vulpix and Aipom who had been watching and then said "Alright gang, let's keep going, and find Pikachu" The four continued onwards, with their newest partner Starly flying up above, as they continued the search for Pikachu.

* * *

Meanwhile, on top of a hill not even a mile away stood two figures. One was a short, humanoid Pokémon, yellows with black stripes, stubby but powerful arms, study legs, and horns similar to prongs on a plug, with a black lightning bolt on its chest. Next to it was a human, who was primarily decked in purple, with purple and dark blue jacket, light purple trousers, and trainers similar to his jacket. He also had a blue undershirt as well, and purple hair that went to his shoulders in a slightly messy manner. Said trainer also had a condescending look on his face as he watched the events down below, and when he saw the group head back into the woods, he couldn't help the sneer appear on his face.

"Well if it was that easy, then what was the point?"

* * *

 **Additional Notes: Well this took a while. Paul and Dawn have now both been introduced, and Brock has re-joined the gang. Just to let you all know, I'm planning Ash's and Paul's encounters to be a lot more back and forth i.e. Ash will win more confrontations than in Canon, he only beat Paul at the Poké ringer and at the League, so he will have more victories. I've also noticed that the weakest point of this story may be the Team Rocket moments, as I just can't take them seriously enough, so they may just be reduced to the comedic element of this story. Also a lot of you are going to realise the similarities between this chapter and the episode it's based on. This may happen again with the next chapter as well, just because to me it seems like the best way to introduce Paul to the series. Sorry for the lack of originality. Anyway, please leave a comment/review, tell me how I am doing, and I'll see you next time.**


	11. Chapter 11: Meeting a Rival

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 11, Meeting a Rival**

After what had been and incredibly hectic day for all of our heroes, we now come to the climax of it all. Ash, Brock, Aipom, Vulpix and Ash's newest partner, Starly, are scouring the forest beside route 201, looking for Ash's missing partner, Pikachu. Said Pokémon was also souring the same forest, closer to Sandgem hoping to find his trainer and best friend. He was accompanied by new and aspiring coordinator, Dawn and her partner Piplup, in helping the lost Pokémon.

The trio of Dawn, Piplup and Pikachu where currently retracing their steps along route 201. The young coordinator and Piplup where currently following Pikachu, who continuously sniffed the air and twitched his ears, hoping to gain any sort of track that can lead him to Ash. Unfortunately, their search was thrown off when a rumbling sound was heard. "Wha – What's that!?"

"Piplup!" Her partner could only cry as he hung onto his trainers leg for stability. Pikachu meanwhile had gotten into a battle stance and was currently growling into the trees, where the rumbling sound seemed to be coming from. Crashing out of the trees, the trio saw a yellow/orange robot, a slight oval/egg shape with two legs, and multiple arms coming from its sides. Across the lower 'chest area' was a red R and above that was an oval cockpit, with three maliciously grinning but very familiar faces. The trios thoughts were of one mind, which was so eloquently put by Dawn.

"Oh no"

* * *

Meanwhile, the group of Ash and Brock had stopped for a moment after hearing the rumbling, because in the confusion, Vulpix had lost Pikachus scent, and was currently trying to find it again.

"Wonder what caused that?" Ash spoke to Brock. "Do you think we should find out?"

"Normally I'd say yes, but like you said Ash, we don't know what it is, so it could be anything we may not even be prepared for"

"Yeah, your right, but I think we should at least send Starly or Aipom out just to check it out"

"It's your call Ash, but we would lose another set of eyes until they can get back"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take" Ash could help shake the feeling that he should be charging over to the rumbling as quickly as possible, call it gut instinct. Suddenly, streaks of lighting appeared, similar to a Thunderbolt, or possible a low powered Thunder, scaring away more Pokémon from the area. It seemed to be quite a deviation from where the rumbling came from, but that wasn't what Ash was thinking.

"That's and electric type move!"

"That's some electric move to appear from any distance" Brock said, eyes also glued to spectacle.

"Aipom, go to where the rumbling came from, find out what it is" Aipom nodded quickly before she headed off to the strange rumbling. "We'll continue onward, either one could be Pikachu"

As Aipom headed towards the rumbling, Ash, Brock, Vulpix and Starly headed off to the origin of the electric move. Not a minute later, they came across a strange trainer standing just behind an Elekid by the looks of it, who was the source of the electric type move. The move had just downed a Starly, which was then followed by the strange trainer capturing said Starly. The Trainer then threw another Pokéball at another Starly, however this one turned out to be already caught, sending the Pokéball back to the trainer. It was then that Ash, Brock and Vulpix arrived on the scene.

"Starly, over here!" Ash's Starly quickly landed onto Ash's left shoulder perching so that it could face the new trainer. "Sorry about that, we were just wondering what was happening" Ash apologised to the new trainer for interfering, only to receive a cold glare in return. "I'll thank you and your Starly to stay out of my way" was the trainers only response to Ash's apology.

"Hey, sorry, we didn't know someone else was out here"

"It must've been Elekid that caused the electric move" Brock reasoned when he joined Ash's side.

"Yeah, shame that" Ash said in disappointment, causing the new trainer to raise a questioning eye brow in response. "Anyway, I've got a question, have you seen a Pikachu anywhere around here?"

"No" The trainer then turned his eye onto Starly nestled onto Ash's shoulder. "You really think that Starly's good enough?"

"Huh?"

"I watched you catch it. Don't you think that you're better off catching the strongest, the best one you can get, watch" The trainer then drew three Pokéball's from is belt and released their contents, showing three Starly. "You know you can scan your Pokémon to show what moves they can do, right?"

"Yeah, I did that, so what?"

"So it shows you what moves it knows, and it can save you a lot of grief in the long run" The trainer claimed whilst scanning the Starly in front of him. Once he had finished scanning them, he returned them to their Pokéball's, before depositing one on his belt, and throwing the other two in the air again. Instead of the bright light that accompanied them last, a blue light appeared instead, signifying the trainer's release of them. Ash followed the Starly into the sky, before turning back to the trainer and stating in a sarcastic manner "Something wrong with those two?" The smirk on the trainers face disappeared, setting his face into a frown. "The Starly I kept knew Aerial Ace, those two didn't, so I'm not going to waste my time on mediocre and instead go for the best" Know, Ash had spent his month of training also looking at Pokémon behaviour with Professor Oak, who showed Ash that Pokémon of similar strength tended to stick together for safety and to help one another, generally lead by an evolved form of their species. It was only stronger, older, more experienced Pokémon that tended to strike out on their own. There were anomalies, but they were few and far between, and tended to be the Pokémon who liked to battle most. As such, instead of arguing at the condescending way this guy treated his Pokémon, his response greatly shocked everyone there.

He laughed.

Hysterically.

"BBBWWAAHHHHHAAAAAA!" This only served to make everyone look at Ash as if he'd grown another head, whilst the trainer face just twisted into a scowl, gritting his teeth at Ash. "What's so funny!" He demanded.

" 'Snicker' It's just that you think what moves they know when you've just caught them makes a difference" Ash started to calm down a bit more, before his face did a complete 180, staring at the trainer with a similar look of coldness. "Well let me tell you, it doesn't. Any Pokémon can be strong if you're willing to train it, no matter what it is. Otherwise, no-one would have any Gyarados, because they wouldn't have bothered to catch a Magikarp to begin with"

"Care to prove it in a battle, three on three?" The trainer was now smirking again. "We'll put our Starly's against one another to prove it"

"Listen, as much as I would love to battle you just to show you that there is absolutely no difference between them" Ash stated with a roll of his eyes, again causing the trainer to growl in the face of blatant sarcasm "If you really can't remember from not 2 minutes ago, I'm looking for someone who is currently lost, and I want to find them as quickly as possible" At this point, the trainer seemed to deflate a bit, losing a lot of his tension, but still retaining his coldness. "Alright, we'll settle this another time. Come on Elekid" With that, the trainer and his Elekid started leaving. However, just before they left the clearing, a pillar of condensed electricity appeared, along with a multitude of glowing stars that exploded around it.

"Ash, did you see that?!" Brock exclaimed coming to Ash's side.

"That was a Volt Tackle and Swift. Aipom must have found Pikachu!"

The group of four headed off in the general direction of the attack, with Starly once again taking the wing. The new trainer however had stopped at the edge of the clearing, interest in his eyes. "That's a Volt Tackle huh"

* * *

Meanwhile, Dawn and Piplup where once again relegated to the side lines as Pikachu duked it out with Team Rockets Robot, even though it seemed that Pikachu was doing absolutely no damage to it what so ever. Similarly, Team Rocket couldn't seem to get a lock on Pikachu, who was just too fast, even for the multiple arms. Dawn was further confused when a small purple monkey Pokémon appeared from the trees, and used an Iron Tail to slam into the Robot, causing it to stumble and back off. It appeared that Pikachu knew this new Pokémon, as in the unforeseen respite, the two greeted one another in a friendly manner, and after a few gestures by the new Pokémon, Pikachu's eyes only seemed to grow brighter in happiness. When the Robot returned, the two immediately set about re-joining the battle, with a Volt Tackle and Swift to start round two off. However, even two attacks weren't enough to cause a dent.

"You see, our new Super Sinnoh Slinger Mark 1A is completely indestructible to any attack you send our way" Jessie Boasted over the intercom.

"It's also solar powered, tackling global warming and makes us lunch" James added whilst hold a toasted sandwich.

"Which means dat Pikachu is ours for the taking" Meowth stated grinning down at their opponents.

"Hold on, why do you lot care so much about a single Pikachu anyway?" Dawn queried.

"We've been after that Pikachu for four straight years missy" James answered.

"And because capturing powerful Pokémon is Team Rockets prime objective" Jessie told the young trainer.

"And there's nothing you can do about it!" Meowth added at the end. With a twist of his wrist, multiple arms launched themselves at Pikachu and the other Pokémon. Fortunately, Pikachu's speed and the others agility and acrobatics meant that they dodged every single arm. Unfortunately, Meowth then saw the standing still Piplup, and decided to go for him.

"Ahh, quick Piplup, use Bubblebeam" Piplup launched a barrage of bubbles at the incoming arm, however, the robots indestructability proved true, and the Bubblebeam did nothing, and because Piplup neither had the speed or agility to dodge, got caught in the arms of the Robot. "No, Piplup!"

"Well, it's no powerhouse, but it is rare, so it'll do for a start. The arm starting drawing in Piplup, and with both Pikachu and the new Pokémon already preoccupied with the other arms, and Piplup being Dawns only Pokémon, there was nothing anyone could do.

"VULPIX, USE FLAME BURST! STARLY, WHIRLWIND!"

After the sudden command, two new Pokémon appeared in the clearing, a Starly that Dawn recognised, and a red fox that must be Vulpix, who both launched their retrospective attacks. The sudden command had already startled everyone in the clearing, with Team Rockets hands becoming slack around the controls, meaning the robots grip around Piplup had slackened. The attacks meant that Piplup was able to squirm free, and land safely in Dawns arms. "Piplup, are you okay!"

"Piplup" He replied with a nod. Dawn and Piplup then turned around to see two new trainers come out into the clearing, one with raven messy hair and a cap covering it, the other quite tall and messy brown hair and a hiker's backpack. The raven haired trainer looked over at all the occupants of the clearing, before settleing on Pikachu, whose eyes was alight with happiness, as was the trainers.

"Pikachu!"

"Pikapi!" The two had ran up to one another and where hugging, with Aipom crawling up to Ash's head, Starly settling himself on Ash's left shoulder and Vulpix sitting by Ash looking up.

"Guess we couldn't keep apart for long, could we huh buddy?" Ash stated in good humour. Pikachu responded with shake of his head, before he saw Starly, who greeted him with a wave of his wing. Pikachu looked at Starly with confusion before Ash noticed. "Oh right, you two haven't met yet. Pikachu, this is Starly, he helped us find you, and is our first partner here in Sinnoh" Pikachu then responded with what must have been a thank you, as both Starly and Pikachu became instant friends. The moment was however interrupted by three now very annoyed crooks.

"HEY, no fair, we were here first!" Jessie screamed over the intercom at the seen

"Finders Keepers twerp" James stated, as if that made any difference.

"Doesn't matter, we can just separate dah twerp from Pikachu again" Meowth stated with confidence, confidence that evaporated in a few moments.

"YOU THREE!" Ash shouted at the robot, drawing shocked looks from everyone as he and his Pokémon settled around him into battle stances. "I have had it up to here with your antics! Four years you lot have been following me, just to try and steal Pikachu, well it ends today!" Ash told the three, who seemed to settle down into a mode of false confidence.

"And what are you going to do, this Robot of ours is indestructible, no attacks can harm it" Jessie argued back, which only caused Ash to grin at them. "So I won't attack directly then will I. Kirlia, Larvitar, come on out" Kirlia and Larvitar then appeared out of their Pokéball's, appearing on either side of the team in their own battle stances. Dawn was set to join him, before a hand landed on her shoulder, coming from the taller stranger, Brock. "Leave it" he told her "Ash wants to do this by himself. He says he has a plan for them" The sentence seemed to cause Dawn to settle down, even though Brock was sweating internally as to what Ash was going to do. After a stare down between the two opposing teams occurred for a few more moments, Ash decided to take the advantage of an early start.

"Vulpix, Will-o-wisp! Starly, use Whirlwind! Kirlia, set up Light Screen and Reflect, and then use Calm Mind! Aipom, climb up and start using Screech on the cockpit. Pikachu start chipping away at the legs with Iron Tail" The five Pokémon ordered to do so went about their orders without hesitation. Starly quickly launched his Whirlwind, which caught onto Vupix's Will-o-wisp, causing an increase in speed as the Will-o-wisp hit the main body before the arms could move to deflect the attack _"Not that it would've done much if they had"_ Ash thought. He then saw Aipom use Starly's Whirlwind to ascend quickly up the Robot, getting to the cockpit and launching her Screech, which may not have done its primary effect, did cause Team Rocket to cover their eyes from the onslaught, which allowed Ash to issue his next order. "Larvitar, use Dig to get underneath, see if you can't loosen the earth a bit, use their weight against them. Once you do, wait for my signal" Larvitar responded with a nod, and quickly disappeared. Meanwhile, Kirlia had set up both Light Screen and Reflect, shown by the shimmering outlines of a box on all of her allies, and then used Calm Mind on herself. Aipom's and Starly's attacks had finished, and Pikachu had made quite a few dents and gouges in the Robots legs before retreating back to Ash. Team Rocket seemed to look around for any damage, before noticing nothing but a few scratches to their paint work, and began laughing at the seemingly pitiful attempt at Ash's attacks. They continues laughing, right up until the moment the Robot seemingly burst into flames.

"What, I thought there was no damage" Jessie screamed at see the robot just randomly alight.

"There isn't, I checked the systems, there all fine" Meowth shouted back over the alarms and Flames. Ash just smirked at the effects that Vulpix's Will-o-wisp had on the robot. Suddenly, the ground beneath one of the robots legs caved in, Larvitars Dig working brilliantly. It also had the additional effect of the other leg being crushed under the entire weight of the robot, which was also the leg with a lot of Pikachu's gouges and dents on it. Team Rocket were stuck. But Ash wasn't done yet.

"Pikachu, get ready to use Iron Tail as a springboard, and then hit that cockpit with a Brick Break. Larvitar, Now!" As Pikachu had set up an Iron Tail as said springboard, Larvitar launched himself from the ground into Pikachu's Iron Tail, launching the electric type up higher than the robots cockpit. As Pikachu got to full height, he switched from Iron Tail to Brick Break, a move that whist not as powerful as Iron Tail, can get through pesky barriers. Using gravity as an accelerator, Pikachu delivered the Brick Break to the cockpit window, shattering it completely. The moment Ash saw this, the final part of his plan came together. "Kirlia, use Confusion to get them out of there. Pikachu, use Electro Ball on the console" Thanks to Kirlia's earlier Calm Mind, her Confusion was much more powerful, being closer to an actual Psychic from a fully evolved and trained Psychic type, and was able to grab the three crooks from the machine, before Pikachu delivered the Electro Ball, throwing it into the console, causing a massive systems crash. To add insult to injury, a final 'burn' from Vulpix's earlier Will-o-wisp occurred again, causing an Explosion, destroying the robot. Ash did say he would attack indirectly.

However, with this robots destruction, there was no blasting off. Instead, the trio of crooks lay trapped in Kirlia's Confusion, with fear in their eyes as they saw Ash turn around to face them, with nothing but coldness in his eyes. "Right you three, we need to talk" Ash stated with utter simplicity.

"Tal-Talk about what" Jessie said, quivering.

"About what's going to happen now" Ash turned to Kirlia and nodded, allowing Kirlia to effectively dump the three on the ground, before she stumbled slightly, the drawback of holding Confusion for that long getting to her. She was however able to regain her balance as every one of Ash's Pokémon surrounded the trio, stopping them from escaping. Watched by Dawn, Piplup and Brock, Ash began talking to the crooks, trying to make them see reason.

"Okay, we have you three been following me for the past 4 years?" Ash asked the crooks.

"Uh, because your Pikachu is powerful, and would be an excellent gift for the Boss" James answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world"

"Even though in the time you've spent following me around, you could have captured multiple wild Pikachu and trained them up to be just as good" Ash replied back, whose statement drew a raised eyebrow from Pikachu.

"Pika chu, pi Pikapi"

"Not helping buddy" Ash whispered to his partner, getting the gist of what Pikachu was saying.

"Don't start giving us dat crap again twerp" Meowth responded to Ash's previous statement. "Dah researcher twerp said the same thing"

"Well Gary was always the more logical of the two of us, which only proves my point" Ash said to the crooks. "You three have spent so much in the way of time, energy, money and resources in trying to catch one, I'll say that again, ONE Pikachu. Do you really think that 'the Boss' is going to be pleased with you with that track record?" Ash's statement and subsequent rhetorical seemed to make the trio think, who all realised that no, the Boss would not be pleased with them.

"Well if that's the case, what are you going to do to us?" Jessie questioned with a somewhat angry expression.

"If you promise to leave Team Rocket and to not steal anymore, then nothing"

"And why exactly would we do that?!" James queried, with a similar expression of anger on his face.

"Because I know there is good in you. You helped me at Shamouti, and at Greenfield, even though you didn't have to. James, I know you care greatly about all your Pokémon, Victreebel's and Cacnea's affection towards you show that. And Jessie, I know you love contests, seeing as you entered the Kanto grand festival. And Meowth, you can talk. As in proper, actually speaking. You could be a translator, or even help develop a translator device between people and Pokémon"

The trio of crooks could only stare as scenarios ran through their heads. They could be famous and rich, and it would all be legal. Simultaneously, they turned to face one another, before they all shared equally massive grins on their faces as they made their decision. Not a second later, they whizzed past Ash and Pikachu, drawing stunned looks on everyone's faces as they watched the trio run of in a cloud of dust, but not before they heard "WE PROMISE AND THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!"

Ash could only look on in the direction that Team Rocket just ran off to, as he said to Pikachu, "Well that was easier than I expected. I only hope that they keep their promise?"

"Chu" Ash then turned around to see all of his Pokémon had closed ranks and where around him, and he decided that he should no clear things up. Crouching down to their level, he stroked Vulpix's head, whilst petting Aipom, before moving on to pet all of his Pokémon, drawing content sighs as the tension melted out of them. "You were all absolutely brilliant today, especially you Starly, you definitely proved yourself to be a part of this team" Ash's compliment drew a happy chirp from the flying type, as the others in the team smiled fondly at their new partner. Ash then quickly returned all of his Pokémon before turning to the expectant humans and Pokémon hanging about at the edge of the clearing, waiting for Ash to be done. As Ash made his way over to them, Brock was the first to speak.

"I have to admit, that was very mature of you Ash"

"You think so? You don't think I just let them walk free again, do you?"

"Nah, they'll take your words to heart, and will change. But if they do, what are you going to do?"

"Simple, with the authority of an Ace trainer, I'll arrest them, and I'll use nearly every single encounter I've had with them as evidence. I can trust you to back me up if they do?"

"You bet on it. I'm sure Misty, May, Max and a few others will be more than willing."

"I'm sorry, what's an Ace Trainer?" Dawn interrupted the talking duo, confused at what Ash meant.

"It's a Trainer rank, it's for those trainers the league considers skilled and trustworthy enough to help the league out with certain matters should the time arise, like helping out in raids against criminal gangs, or just doing jobs that are out of the way of towns with Gym Leaders for the League" Ash explained to the young, new trainer.

"Wow, and you're an Ace trainer?" Dawn now seemed to have sparkles in her eyes as she looked at Ash.

"Yep, my name's Ash Ketchum, I come from Pallet Town in Kanto. You've already met Pikachu I guess"

"Pika" Pikachu waved at Dawn as Ash introduced him, who nodded her head at Ash's statement.

"My name's Brock Harrison, from Pewter City also in Kanto" Brock then introduced himself to the new trainer.

"My name's Dawn Berlitz, from Twinleaf Town here in Sinnoh. I found Pikachu on Route 202 before taking him to the Pokémon centre. Oh and this is my partner, Piplup"

"Piplup" Piplup waved at the group at Dawns introduction, who then turned back to Dawn as Ash continued to talk.

"Well, thanks for looking out for Pikachu Dawn, that was real swell of you"

"No need to worry, it was fine. The only downside was my bike getting fried" Here Ash gained a look of horror, as he slowly turned his head to Pikachu, who could only grin sheepishly whilst rubbing his head, and Brock just chuckling to himself. Fortunately, Dawn seemed to not notice the interaction. "But we managed it, right Piplup"

"Piplup" Piplup posed in a victory pose, only to faint in utter exhaustion not moments later. The day's events had finally caught up to the water type. "Oh no, Piplup! Are you okay?" Dawn cradled the water type in her lap as Brock took his backpack of and began rummaging around for stuff. Ash was about to get down and help, when he heard a faint cry calling his name grow louder. He turned around to find someone and another strange Pokémon running right up to them, someone Ash instantly recognised.

"Professor Sycamore!" The professor came to a stop right in front of Ash, as he breathed heavily, whilst the strange new Pokémon just looked on.

"I would be the one to travel the farthest now wouldn't I" Professor Sycamore said to himself more than anything, before noticing that Ash now had a Pikachu perched on his right shoulder. _"Yes, that look better"_ He thought to himself as he rose back up and asked "I take it everything is alright then?"

"Almost, we found Pikachu obviously, but now Piplup just collapsed on us" Ash told the professor

"Really, let me see" Sycamore walked past Ash and settled himself on the other side of Piplup, so that he was on one side, Brock was on the other applying some potions, and Dawn was cradling Piplup's head so that it was tilted back. Ash knew that while he had learnt a bit about treating Pokémon in the wild from Professor Oak, he wasn't going to get in the way of an aspiring breeder and a fully trained Pokémon professor. Instead, he turned back to the strange Pokémon, and scanned it with his Pokédex app on his Xtransceiver.

 **Gabite, the Cave Pokémon. Gabite goes wild for precious jewels, first digging them up and then stashing them in its nest.**

Ash then placed his pokedex away before turning back to the group. "How's Piplup?"

"Nothing major, just exhausted, most likely from the day's events" Brock answered with confidence. Seeing that everything was alright, the group decided to head back to Professor Rowans Lab, just for a quick rest over before they continued forwards.

* * *

The group spent the next half an hour walking back to Professor Rowans Lab in order to fully heal all the Pokémon and to give everyone a rest. Dawn had returned Piplup to his Pokéball in order to hold him in suspended animation for the journey, knowing that it would be easier to do so. As the group trekked, several different topics of conversation were passed back and forth, between goals, career aspirations, before it settled on to Professor Sycamore's research. Apparently, there were myths and legends in the Kalos region about another form of evolution, known as Mega Evolution, where a fully evolved Pokémon could receive a power boost from a certain pair of stones, with a catalyst of how strong the bond between trainer and Pokémon being needed to activate it. It sounded incredibly complicated, and Sycamore was only able to begin research on the process just recently, as the secret had been closely guarded by certain 'Mega Evolution gurus' for centuries, possibly millennia for the fear that people could use it to commit bad deeds. Eventually, the group made it back to Professor Rowans Lab, where Rowan immediately congratulated everyone on a job well done, and placed everyone's Pokéball's into the restoration machine so that they can have a rest. Ash then learnt that Glalie was okay and just resting, whilst Pidgeot had suffered a slight sprained wing, but should be alright tomorrow morning. The group then settled down for a rest whilst the Pokémon just healed up ready for them to move out. They figured they could make it to Sandgem Town before it got dark, as they didn't want to impose on Professor Rowan any longer than necessary.

Meanwhile, the strange trainer and Elekid had come across the battle field were the remnants of Team Rockets robot lay all across the field. He paid particular attention to the burn marks, both made from fire and electrical attacks, the dents and gouges in what must have been the legs, and the large area of earth that seemed to have disappeared, obviously from a Dig. After having Elekid test his Brick Break on a few of the medium sized pieces of debris, and finding it to be quite hard to break, requiring several hits to make any noticeable difference, the trainer came to the conclusion that the trainer he met may possibly be no slouch in battle.

* * *

"So everything is alright now?"

"Yeah Professor, I'm all set to begin starting in Sinnoh"

"Only you Ash could have such a day before you've even properly begun" Professor Oak shook his head at the Ace trainer, who after 4 years of seeing him go from event to event, such a day could only be expected.

"Well, it wouldn't be a fun journey otherwise, would it professor?" Ash only chucked at his statement, whilst the professor chuckled with him.

"No, I suppose it wouldn't, though I do wonder what your mother would think of this?"

"I called her before you professor, all she said was 'only you Ash, only you'"

"Heheheh, well I suppose that's to be expected. Well, your all set now to actually begin travelling Sinnoh now, make sure you do us here all proud, and don't forget your training"

"Don't worry Professor, this time I'm going to win" Ash eyes shone with a confidence and determination that few people could reproduce. It was then that Professor Rowan came up behind Ash to interrupt the conversion,

"Ah Ash, your Pokémon are ready to go, and can I ask that I talk with Samuel for a moment?"

"No problem professor, as long as it's alright with you professor?" Ash asked the last part towards his sponsor, who shook his head to show negative.

"Not at all my boy, I was actually going to ask you to get Professor Rowan anyway. You'll keep intouch?"

"Yep, I'll see you later Professor"

"Pika" Pikachu said his goodbye as well as the duo walked away from the video phone, leaving the two professors alone for a moment, with Ash just catching the start of their conversation.

"Well, I'll admit it Samuel, I had my doubts, but that boy really is something" Rowan admitted to the Kanto Professor.

"Well, I do know how to pick them" Oak joked to his Sinnoh counterpart as the two old friends shared a laugh.

Meanwhile, Ash had collected all of his Pokémon from the restoration machine, and was back in the lobby, where Brock, Dawn and Professor Sycamore waiting on him.

"Well, we had best head off soon, what are your plans Dawn?" Ash asked the new coordinator, as he had found out her goals.

"Um, actually, I wanted to ask you something?" Dawn said shyly to both Brock and Ash, who could only look on in confusion

"I was wondering if it would be alright if I travelled with you two. I found out today that being on a journey is going to be a lot harder than I thought, and I don't think I'm quite ready to do it on my own just yet"

Ash and Brock just stared at Dawn in slight shock at what she just said, before turning to one another, and grins spreading across their faces. They then turned back to Dawn to give their answer.

"Well I say the more the merrier, what about you Brock?"

"I've taken care of 8 siblings before and several different Pokémon and people as well, I think I can handle another set as well" Brock said with a gentle smile to show he wasn't being condescending.

Dawns eyes lit up in excitement. "Really, I can come with you. Oh wow. Don't worry, I can help out if need to, I try not to be a bother, really, honest" Dawn stated in a rapid tone.

"Would make you better than Ash at least" Brock quipped, earning a slight glare from said Trainer.

"I wasn't that bad, besides, I've learnt a lot in my training" Ash responded.

"Good, then you can help with the dishes" Brock knew he had won at that point as Ash anime slumped, as he remembered how large Brocks cooking pans could get, and now there were going to be more of them, there would be more to clean. Said action caused a few laughs to go around the group at Ash's new predicament, before they were interrupted by the lobby doors opening. Inside came the same purple haired trainer Ash and Brock met in the forest, whos eyes immediately locked with Ash's.

"I assume that you found your Pokémon then" he stated in his cold tone.

"Uh, yeah, everyone's okay, thanks for asking" Ash answered back to the strange trainer he had met before.

"Then you're willing to partake in that three on three battle now, right?" Ash was slightly shocked that this trainer had come just to battle him, and then he remembered the argument that they had before. This trainer clearly wanted to prove a point with his whole, catch the stronger Pokémon thing.

"Sure, I'm game for it. My names Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town, you?"

"Paul, Veilstone City, Pallet's in Kanto, correct?"

"Yep, and I'm guessing Veilstone is in Sinnoh?"

"Yes, it is" It was then that Professor Rowan re-joined the group, and immediately recognised the newest addition to the group.

"Ah Paul, haven't seen you in four years, ever since you picked up your starter from me" Rowan told the now identified Paul.

"Yes Professor, he's doing fine, I can assure you. I'm just here to battle him" Whilst Paul still had his hard look in his eye, his tone had become remarkably more respectful towards the Professor.

"Hmm, well then, let's head out to the battlefield" Professor Rowan stated, moving forward to take them around back.

* * *

A few minutes later, Ash and Paul were know facing one another at other ends of Professor Rowans makeshift field, with Brock in the centre at the side in order to referee. Dawn, Rowan and Sycamore were behind Brock in order to observe how the battle goes.

"This Battle will be a series of three one on one Pokémon battles between Ash and Paul. The winner will be the trainer with the best 2 out of three wins" Brock declared to the group. Along the way, Ash asked Paul if it was alright if they had three one on ones instead of a three on three, with no substitutions, considering they were going to put their Starly's against one another. Paul only lightly smirked and said it was fine anyway. As such, the rules of the match had been laid.

"Battle Begin!" Brock stated the battle with a swing of his right arm downwards.

"Starly, Stand by for Battle!" Paul was first to release his Starly, clearly wanting to proves Ash's previous reason wrong early on.

"Okay, Starly, I choose you!" Ash responded with his own Starly. Even though he knew that their wouldn't be much difference physically between the Starly's that didn't rule out strategy.

"Starly use Growl quick" Ash quickly began the match by having his Starly lower Paul's Starly's attack, which would lessen the damage of Aerial Ace. However, Paul did nothing as Ash's command was carried out.

"Alright then, Starly, Quick Attack!"

"Dodge" Ash's Starly shot forward with impressive speed, but Pauls Starly was able to dodge it.

"Now, Aerial Ace" Pauls Starly was engulfed with white streaks, and rammed into Ash's Starly. However, the previous growl had done its work, as Ash's Starly was able to recover quickly.

"Okay Starly, let's try Quick Attack again" Here, Paul smirked, thinking Ash was trying the same thing over again. Little did he know he was about to play into Ash's hand.

"Dodge, and use Aerial Ace again" Just like last time, Paul's Starly dodged, and shot towards Ash's Starly with another Aerial Ace. However, Ash was prepared for it this time, due to his quick counter.

"Starly, Wing Attack, knock it to the ground" Starly's wing became bright white, and smacked the other Starly away, causing a bit more damage than the Aerial Ace that connected. Paul's Starly was successfully knocked to the ground.

"Okay Starly, let's try Quick Attack again" Ash's Starly shot towards the downed one, hoping to connect this time. Seeing his Starly on the ground only caused Paul to grit his teeth and get annoyed at his flying type.

"Get up, and use Double Team" Pauls Starly shimmered briefly as clones where copied from it, forcing Ash's Starly to shoot through a copy. As he quickly rose up again to gain the high ground, Ash's Starly saw multiple Starly now flying around in a ring below it, causing more confusion to Ash's flying type.

"Now, Aerial Ace" All of the Starly's below shot towards Ash's with white streaks surrounding them all.

"Starly, Whirlwind, blow them all away" Ash's Starly complied so, with all of the Starly's being driven back apart from the real one, who whilst slowed down, was still on its current course.

"Okay Starly, use that Whirlwind to propel your Quick Attack, and meet it head on" Ash's Starly quickly ended the Whirlwind, catching the last currents of wind against his wings as he streaked forwards towards Paul's Starly. Not a second later, the quickened Quick Attack met the Aerial Ace, causing a small explosion. Afterwards, both Starly's fell towards the ground, both knocked out.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle, this match is a draw" Brock declared after seeing the two Starly land.

"Hold on, how did that happen?" Dawn queried to the two Professors flanking her.

"Ash had his Starly use Growl to lessen the damage that Paul's Starly could do. This meant Aerial Ace wouldn't be as effective as it would normally" Sycamore said to the young coordinator.

"However, Aerial Ace was still a significantly troublesome move for Ash, due to the speed of it. As such, the Wing Attack and Whirlwind enhanced Quick Attack, matched the two Aerial Aces in terms of power, knocking them both out" Rowan added. Dawn could only continue looking on in confusion. Clearly, Pokémon battles where more than just trading blows than she just thought.

Ash returned Starly to his Pokéball, giving it a quick congratulations, and promising it that they'll train more later. Paul just returned his Starly, and glared at the Pokéball for a few moments. All he could think about was that his supposedly stronger Starly had failed to beat a supposedly weaker one. Pathetic. Without a word, he returned the Pokéball to his belt, before drawing another one, ready to begin the second round.

"Chimchar, Stand by for Battle!" Out of Paul's Pokéball came a red/cream monkey with its lower end on fire, signifying at least one of its typing's. Dawn recognised it for being the same species of Pokémon that Professor Rowan gave out as the fire starter for new trainers. Ash however, did not recognise it, and quickly pulled out his Pokédex app.

 **Chimchar, the Chimp Pokémon. Chimchar easily climbs the sheerest of walls and lives on mountain tops. When it sleeps, its flames go out.**

"A fire type huh. Okay then, Kirlia, I choose you!" Out of Ash's Pokéball throw came out Kirlia, posed in a typical battle stance with its 'hands' clasped below. Paul seemed to have an unreadable expression on his face at the sight of the Psychic/Fairy Type. Paul remember seeing no signs of any Psychic damage on the robot, and thus had no idea what this one was capable off.

"Kirlia, start off with Calm Mind" Pauls musings were cut short when Ash ordered Kirlia to increase her overall power. _"Good"_ He thought, _"Maybe this will bring out Chimchar's power"_ As Kirlia closed her eyes and begins glowing, Paul order his attack. "Ember!" Chimchar was quick with the order, as several fireballs sped towards the stationary Kirlia. Fortunately, Ash had trained Kirlia to increase her speed on Calm Mind, so that she could only spend a few seconds and still have the full benefits.

"Kirlia, Use Teleport to Dodge!" Calm Mind ended, and Kirlia quickly teleported away from the embers, causing Chimchar to miss completely.

"Dig, catch it off guard!" Chimchar quickly went underground, zigzagging underground in order to confuse Kirlia. Unfortunately, Psychic types, especially well trained, experienced, and ones with a temporary boost, are not fazed by such movements.

"Kirlia, use Reflect" Kirlia's Reflect went up just before Chimchar could fully execute Dig, causing the Chimp Pokémon to crash into the barrier, almost nearly nullifying the Dig.

"Get up, now, and use Flame Wheel!" Paul was starting to get angry now. First his stronger Starly fails to take out a weaker Starly, only drawing with it, and now Chimchar was barley doing anything, with the full knowledge that any attack moved used by Kirlia would be catastrophic. Chimchar however, proved his loyalty to Paul, by quickly becoming shrouded in Fire, and charging towards Kirlia.

"Kirlia, Use Confusion!" Kirlia's eyes simply began to glow a light blue, and then a similar glow appeared around Flame Wheel, completely stopping it. Seconds later, Chimchar appeared out of the Flame Wheel, grimacing in pain at the Psychic type. Ash sighed at seeing his. He still remembered the time when his Pokémon were caught under psychic influence for the first time, at the Saffron Gym, and it appeared to be the same for this Chimchar, meaning that Paul had not had it long at all. Thus he decided to end this round here and now. "Kirlia, Continuing using Confusion, and send Chimchar back" Kirlia only nodded to confirm, before her eyes pulsed once, and Chimchar was flung back across the field, crashing just ahead of Paul. When he dust cleared, Chimchar was shown to be completely knocked out.

"Chimchar is unable to Battle, the round goes to Ash and Kirlia"

"So what happened here?" Dawn asked the two Professors.

"Ash had Kirlia use Calm mind, which boosted Kirlia's powers significantly. Obviously, Ash has trained Kirlia to get the most out of Calm Mind in the least amount of time" Rowan answered the coordinators question.

"After that, Kirlia's Powers where so powerful, that Chimchar really didn't stand a chance, as Kirlia was able to pluck it straight out the attack as if it was nothing" Sycamore added to his older colleagues answer. Dawn then remembered back at the clearing, when Ash had Kirlia pluck the now-hopefully-former Team Rocket out of the cockpit after a Calm Mind, and without much stress either.

"Alright Kirlia, you were awesome!"

"Kirl" Kirlia responded with a happy smile at her trainer, before she was returned to her Pokéball. Ash then looked up to see Paul just returning Chimchar. However, instead of any of the normal stuff trainers would say, what Paul said next clearly shocked him. "We clearly have more work to do" Ash couldn't believe his ears. Sure Chimchar could use training, but then why when Paul say it did it sound so malicious and uncaring. Ash quickly shook his head at those thoughts, before preparing the next Pokéball. He may not guarantee a victory, him being only a recent capture, but Ash had proved his point now with the Starly's drawing, and he needed to see where this one stood in terms of where he needed to train the most.

"Okay, Larvitar, I choose you!" Out came Larvitar, who cried out his name as some sort of battle cry, before standing in his typical battle pose, arms and legs spread out, trying to make himself look bigger than he is. Paul spent a few seconds looking at Larvitar. It looked recently captured, a few days if anything, so Ash was doing what he just did with Chimchar, testing its limits. _"Okay then"_ He thought _"Let's try this then"_ "Elekid, stand by for battle".

Out of Paul's Pokéball came out the electric type Ash and co. first saw Paul with. It too got into a similar stance as Larvitar, arms and legs spread out more. This was not before giving its arms a quick whirl to help build up its electricity.

"Okay Larvitar, use Rock Slide!" Ash wanted to see how Larvitar fared in an actual battle scenario, and see how it performed those moves. Immediately, Larvitar raised it arms, which began to glow white, and a couple of rings of energy appeared high above Larvitar. After about ten seconds, which whilst not long, did leave quite an opening in a battle situation, rocks appeared from the ripples of energy, and rained down on Elekid.

"Protect" Elekid immediately placed its arms in front of it, forming a protective green barrier, that completely blocked the rocks from doing any damage. However, Ash saw that the Rock Slide had seemingly taken quite a bit out of Larvitar. Clearly, Rock Slide had only just recently been learnt, and not yet perfected. "Not to worry Larvitar, if we can't attack from a far, let's see how we do close up. Dig, then follow up with Chip away" Ash had seen that Larvitar wasn't a particularly fast Pokémon, and so had to improvise some speed. The benefit was that Dig would be more effective against the electric type Elekid. Larvitar quickly began digging, and moving in an even more erratic way than Chimchar was, greatly confusing Elekid.

Paul was at a loss. He couldn't use Protect again, as it would more than likely fail. Thunder and Thunder punch would both be ineffective, which left one move that could move. Unfortunately, Larvitar proved to be speedy underground, and shot up and delivered the attack to Elekid, causing a significant amount of damage.

"Elekid, Brick Break" Elekid quickly recovered from the surprise attack, and then quickly made its arm flash white briefly, before bringing it to match Larvitars Chip Away. The two continued strongly for dominance, Elekid having the greater strength, but Larvitar having the better centre of gravity. That was until Paul used his next move. "Elekid, Brick Break, with the other arm" Before Ash could respond with any other move from due shock, Elekid swung its other arm around, clearly showing that it had charged up Brick Break long before Paul's order, and swung it into Larvitars stomach. The Rock Skin Pokémon hung there for a second, before being blasted back towards Ash, and crashing in front of him. After the dust cleared, it showed Larvitar on his back, unconscious.

"Larvitar is unable to battle, meaning Paul and Elekid are the winners. This makes this match a draw" Brocks statement ended the match, as the battle calmed down, leaving the two trainers and their captivated audience to their thoughts. Ash was currently pleased with the outcome. All his Pokémon performed admirably, and although there were some areas that needed training, that would happen at a later date. Rowan was currently staring at Ash with an appraising look. Clearly, Samuel was not joking about this boy, and whilst he was holding back some of his skill, Rowan could clearly see that this Trainer would make waves in Sinnoh.

Sycamore was thinking along similar lines, in particular towards the bond he clearly shared with his Pokémon. He wondered whether some of his Pokémon had the capability of the fabled Mega Evolution he was now studying, it would be sight to see. It was unfortunate then he was only just getting started on his research, and thus wouldn't be able to find out until at a later date. Brock was very happy at the outcome, clearly seeing the result of Ash's month long training had done. Dawn was also very happy, clearly with Ash and Brock as her companions, she would learn quite a bit before her contest debut.

The only person on the field's reaction who could be considered negative was Paul. He had failed to prove his point with the Starly issue, with Ketchum's point being proven that there would be little difference between the two. Chimchar had been completely outclassed by Kirlia, and judging by Elekid's tired stance, he had been close to losing this round as well, to what was obviously a new capture. He returned Elekid without a word, which drew Ash's curiosity, and then proceeded to release Starly in the tell-tale blue light.

"I take it Starly's not good enough for you know" Ash sarcastically quipped to the purple haired trainer, who only turned his seemingly permanent scowl onto Ash.

"That Starly knew an advanced technique that yours didn't, and yet it still lost" Paul responded, "Besides, if you are right, then all I have to do is find a stronger flock, and catch the stronger Starly of that flock, whilst you continue with mediocrity" Pauls statement did cause Ash's ire to rise quite a bit.

"So we can expect that Chimchar will be released because it isn't good enough according to you"

"Unlike Starly, I know that Chimchar has potential. I've seen it. I've just got to recreate the right circumstances and work from there" Pauls slightly feral grin only served to unnerve Ash, who feared just exactly what these circumstances where. He quickly cleared those thoughts before talking back to Paul.

"And what about Elekid. Are you going to release him, or are you going to thank him for his effort?" Pauls expression only changed back to the scowl. "What I do with my Pokémon is none of your business. Besides, why would I thank Elekid for taking so long to take out what is clearly a new capture, even with type disadvantage" Paul then turned to Professor Rowan, and thanked him for use of the field, before setting of without a backwards glance.

Their discussion had left a bitter taste in Ash's mouth, but he could only scoff at the back of Paul as he left. He made his way over to the spectators, where they were waiting for him. Brock was the first to address him as Ash got closer. "It's been some first day in Sinnoh, huh Ash"

"Yeah, Team Rocket, a new friend, and now a new rival, who clearly needs a reality check and soon" Ash's comment confused the other members of the group, with Dawn voicing them.

"Hold on, what do you mean 'reality check'?" Dawn queried.

"Me and Ash have met numerous people over our journeys through the regions, and some of them had specific ways of training Pokémon" Brock answered.

"Some would be harsh, but ultimately fair, like training their ground type to be able to take damage from water, some would completely focus on one aspect of their Pokémon, completely ignoring the other aspects, and some, like Paul, would believe that it's Strength that truly matters" Ash continued Brocks answer.

"What we've seen is that those kind of trainers generally just the pure strength of the Pokémon that decides a battle, and as such, will have no semblance of any form of strategy, what so ever. They think that they can just steamroll the entire competition."

"When I first battled Surge at the Vermillion Gym, he did steamroll me in a showcase of pure power and strength. No strategy, no strange battle style, just strength. Me and Pikachu went and trained, ignoring strength as Pikachu didn't want to evolve, and the next time we faced Surge, we outmanoeuvred him, and used his strength against him, and won the badge" Ash told Dawn, remembering the events of those few days.

"Okay, but how does that lead to Paul?" Dawn asked

"Paul's just like those trainers Dawn, he believes the strongest matter and the weakest don't, even though it's the job of a trainer to try and move past those weaknesses and help our Pokémon grow stronger, even despite how they started of" Ash answered.

"One day, Paul will be beaten, badly. But it won't be a case of someone who had just stronger Pokémon, it'll be someone who outmanoeuvred him, who thought outside the box, who used more than just strength to win that battle. On that day, we can only hope the battle would be an important one, so that Paul can see that there's more than just strength when being a Pokémon trainer"

"Wiser words have never been spoken boys" The trio turned to see that Professors Rowan and Sycamore had joined the group, with the assistants going inside. "I'm in regular contact with Paul's sponsor, who tells me that a lot of Paul's captures are Pokémon who excel more in the strength department" Professor Rowan told the group. "Anyway, you three had best head of before it gets dark, unless you want me to heal your Pokémon for you Ash"

"No thank you Professor. The Pokémon centre isn't far, we'll stop there and have an early night, it's been a long day" Ash's statement was met with nods from Brock, Dawn and Pikachu.

"Before you go Ash, I want to give you something" Professor Sycamore said before handing Ash a piece of paper, with two sets of numbers on it. "Those are mine and Professor Rowan's video phone numbers. If you need anything from us, give us a call"

"Sure, thanks a lot, the same to you two as well" Ash said to the two Professors. Placing the phone numbers in his pocket, he shouldered his backpack, with Dawn and Brock doing the same, and said thanks and goodbye to the two Pokémon Professors, before heading out to begin their Sinnoh journey for real this time.

* * *

 **Additional Notes: Hi, remember me. So sorry it's taken me this long to get this chapter posted. I've had a severe case of being absolutely lazy concerning this. First, it was my birthday on the 20** **th** **, yay me, then it was a family dinner, then I got Fallout 4, and have been playing that every chance I could get, meaning this had taken a back seat in terms of priorities.**

 **Anyway, like before, please leave a comment/review, say how I'm doing and what I can do to improve in later chapters. See you next time.**


	12. Chapter 12: The Minstrel Rival

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 12, The Minstrel Rival**

A few days after Ash and Paul's battle, the group of Ash, Pikachu, Brock and Dawn where currently on the path leading to Jubilife city, the site of Dawns contest debut. After Ash and Paul's battle, the group had made it to Sandgem a few hours before the sun set. After checking the condition of Starly, Kirlia and Larvitar, and seeing that they were alright and just needed rest, Ash proceeded to use the rest of the day to see how Pidgeot and Glalie were fairing after their injuries that morning. Both Pokémon where fine, with Pidgeot's right wing being slightly stiff after her injury. But it was nothing a quick massage from Brock couldn't handle, and she was back in the air in no time. Ash then introduced Starly to Pidgeot and Glalie. Starly was instantly enamoured by the massive flying type, as Ash explained that Starly would be working primarily with Pidgeot during its training. This decision was due to the many similarities between the Starly and the Pidgey line, with each corresponding evolution stage matching the other in terms of flying style, average size, temperament and personality. The only difference came from their final evolutions, where Pidgeot's focused more on straight line speed, whereas Staraptor's had more of an affinity for physical power. Although that didn't mean Ash had ruled out having Swellow and Noctowl also teach what they can to the Sinnoh flying type.

As such, Ash had Pidgeot begin teaching Starly some rudimentary flying type techniques beyond that of a wild Pokémon. Ash wouldn't be rushing to have Starly know so many advanced flying type moves so soon, such a move would cause stress and possible injury to the young flying type. Growth had to happen first, and so Pidgeot was only going to provide the necessary nudges in the right direction.

A day after the group left Sandgem, the group where in a field a way away from the main path, as both Brock, Ash and Pikachu watched as Dawn tried to capture her first Pokémon again, a Buneary that Dawn immediately had her eye on.

"Oh wow, a Buneary. Okay Piplup, go!" Dawn shouted upon seeing the normal type. Piplup was released from his Pokéball, getting ready for battle against the normal type.

"Okay Piplup, Bubblebeam!" Piplup launched a series of bubble against Buneary, which connected, and forced the normal type to go down.

"Piplup, get in close and use Peck!" Piplup charged forward, his beak shining a bright white colour that signified Dawns move order, and charged forward with all speed ahead. To the young coordinator, it was very impressive. To the three more experienced members of the group, it was very lacklustre, but also very promising. The Buneary seemed to sense the oncoming danger, and quickly recovered a prepared what seemed to be a Dizzy Punch. Unfortunatley, Piplup and Dawn had seen this trick before, and so where prepared for it.

"Piplup, duck underneath and use Peck!" Piplup followed Dawns orders exactly, and was able to connect with Buneary, sending the normal type to the ground, unconscious.

"Yes! Okay, Pokeball, go-"

"Wait!"

"Huh?" Dawn stopped as her hand was about to throw the Pokéball at the downed Buneary, to turn her head to look at Ash, who had interrupted the battle.

"Dawn, you need to prime the Pokéball first, and then throw it, otherwise it won't work." Ash pointed to her upraised hand, and saw that the Pokéball that she was about to throw, was still in its smaller storage mode.

"Ahh!" Dawn quickly pressed the button, expanding it to its capture/release mode. "Okay, Pokéball. Go!" Dawn threw the enlarge Pokéball, and it hit, Ash, in the face, ten feet to Dawns left, not the unconscious Buneary. Whilst the impact itself wasn't enough to drop Ash, it was enough to send him to a complete stop, as his mind went to a halt as it tried to figure out what just happened.

"Whaa-"

"Oh my god Ash, I am so sorry! Are you Okay?" Dawn quickly went to Ash's side to see if he was alright. Brock and Ash where still dumbfounded as to how that just happened, whilst Pikachu had gathered his wits, and was laughing at the situation.

"Yeah, I'm okay Dawn." Ash answered the now near hysterical girl.

"Are yo sure, you don't need anything to stop the swelling."

"I'm sure Dawn, really I'm fine, I've had worse," Ash could only chuckle at Dawns hysteria, it was completely unnecessary. "But what about the Buneary."

"Huh. Oh right! I'll just prime another Pokéball and-." As Dawn turned around, ready to throw another Pokéball, she and everyone else saw that in the commotion, the Buneary had woken up and gotten away. Only one word could match Dawns mood, as she went to her knees and cried out to the heavens above, "NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Her third try, another failure.

-555-

Half an hour later, the group where continuing their way down the road, aiming to build up a bit of distance before the days end. Dawn's mood was however in an upset mood. She was unable to move past the fact that she had failed at her third attempt. Ash and Brock where currently trying to cheer her up.

"Dawn, stop worrying, barely anyone catches even two Pokémon before their first week is over." Ash told the blue haired coordinator.

"Dawn, I've seen many trainers come out of Viridian Forest into Pewter after starting their journey, and only about 3 in 10 of them had more than 3 Pokéball's active, and the journey is similar to the one we're taking now."

"Yeah, but that was the third time I had tried to catch a Pokémon." Dawn had remained on the same point now since her failure, and it seemed to be sticking. Ash was getting slightly tired of her constant whining, so decided to tell her about his first few days as a trainer.

'Sigh' "Dawn, you are actually further ahead of me than when I started."

"Huh?" Ash's statement drew Dawns curiosity, as she wondered what Ash was going on about. "What do you mean?"

"I woke up late on my first day, and so didn't receive any of the standard Kanto starters. Instead I had to settle for Pikachu here," Pikachu raised is head and turned to Dawn to nod at Ash's statement as Ash continued, "Who had only just been caught, and wasn't too keen on being anybody's starter to anyone," Here, Pikachu just hung his head as he remembered what he was like that day. Brock only chuckled at Ash's understatement. From what he heard, Pikachu was a nightmare for any newbie trainer to deal with.

"As such, I had to try and capture a Pidgey with nothing but a towel, whilst a Rattata stole some my lunch, and I then threw a rock at a Spearow, thinking it was a Pidgey, who then proceeded to summon its entire flock to attack me, and held a grudge against me for 4 years." Dawn could only stare blankly at Ash, amazed and dumbfounded how his apparent Ace Trainer could've started with such an unlucky streak.

"The point is Dawn you're doing fine," Brock interjected, drawing Dawns attention, "You just need to focus that little bit more and you'll be fine." Ash and Brocks placations perked Dawn up as she realised it was only stupid mistakes holding her back. "Yeah, no need to worry!" Dawn claimed as she seemed to march forward with much more vigour in her step. Ash, Brock and Pikachu shared a grin at one another at perking the girl's attitude up.

However, this moment ended when a Pokémon crossed their baths. It was shorter than Piplup and Pikachu, and seemed to just be a walking plant bulb with a yellow face. Ash raised his Xtransceiver to get a scan of the Pokémon.

 **Budew, the Bud Pokémon. In winter, it keeps its bud closed to survive the cold, but then opens it again in the spring.**

After the Pokédex finished speaking, another figure appeared, a tall figure dressed in green appeared, who was gently playing a golden harp, shaped out of a Mew. He began talking to the group on the road. "Ah, new travellers, with wise words as well, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nando, a Pokémon minstrel."

"Hi, my names Ash, and this is Pikachu!"

"Pika."

"My names Brock."

"And I'm Dawn. Is this your Pokémon?" Dawn pointed at the no identified Budew in front of them.

"Yes, we were just relaxing in the shade as I pondered the choice I had to make"

"Oh, sorry if our conversation bothered you." Brock apologised to Nando, who only chuckled at the apology. "There is no need. In fact, it is your help and wise words that I need now as well." Nando's statement did seem to confuse the look slightly, as they wondered what help he needed.

"Really, well what kind of help?" Ash asked the minstrel.

"Not now. First there is a Pokémon centre nearby, which can offer a suitable place for our talk." With that, Nando turned down the road, Budew follow, supposedly heading towards the aforementioned Pokémon centre. The others could only shrug at the request as they followed Nando to the Pokémon centre, which would be a good place to stop and have lunch.

-555-

A short while later, the group had made it to the Pokémon centre, where they sat in the cafeteria having some lunch, with Nando joining them, and the group having a friendly conversation. They learnt that Nando was a travelling Pokémon minstrel, who played music for peoples entertainment, and had performed at multiple venues beforehand. It was during lunch that Ash asked Nando his previous question again.

"So Nando, you mentioned that you needed our help?" Nando wiped his face and hands with his napkin, and turned to face the others.

"Yes. You see, I have recently decided that I wise to embark on my own Pokémon journey, to travel a region with my partners, gaining new friends and seeing different sights, or may haps, the same sights, but in a different light," Here, Ash, Brock and Pikachu smiled, knowing what potential benefits one can receive by travelling the world. "But I do not know how to go about my journey." Nando finished, drawing confused looks from the group.

"What do you mean Nando?" Brock asked the Pokémon minstrel.

"You see, I am thrilled about the idea of taking the Pokémon league challenge, going around the gyms, collecting badges, and competing in the Pokémon league. But the serenity and grace of a contest puts me at ease, and similarly excites me. I trust you understand my predicament?" Nando answered Brocks question, which drew an understanding nod from the breeder. However, Ash, Dawn and Pikachu where still confused.

"Wait, why can't you do both?" Dawn asked

"Its because of the stupid rivalry between trainers and coordinators Dawn, it can get quite hairy sometimes, particularly between die hards" Brock answered for the young girl.

"Hold on, there's a rivalry between coordinators and trainers?" Ash asked incredulously, why hasn't he heard of anything like this.

"Yeah, didn't you ever wonder why Harley and Drew always just brushed you off whenever they met up with us?" Brock asked the trainer.

"I thought it was just because Harley was a jerk and Drew didn't like the fact that May was travelling with us and not him"

"Well that's part of the reason, the other part was that they didn't think you truly knew what you were doing" Brock told Ash, who just raised an eyebrow at the statement. All Ash could think was that he should try and find a way to tell May about his Ace trainer promotion, so that she could spread it around. _'That'll show those two'_ Ash thought, until he remembered something else Brock had said.

"Wait, when you say hairy, what do you mean?"

"Do you remember how childish you and Gary got whenever you two met up, when we travelled Kanto?" Ash winced at Brocks statement, remembering how every time from the fishing fiasco up until the Indigo league, they would try and outdo one another in the most childish ways. Thankfully, their rivalry wasn't as bad during Johto.

"That bad huh?" Ash asked, drawing a sage nod from the breeder.

Dawns mind was currently in a whirlwind. Did she have to look out for this rivalry? If so, why hasn't anybody told her? Does this mean that she can't travel with Ash and Brock anymore because she had to separate herself from them? Thankfully, Ash pulled her from her thoughts.

"Well, no offense Nando, but I think your being stupid," Nando looked sharply at Ash as he said this. "I've only met two coordinators out of a good many that seem to follow this stupid rivalry, and if anyone does say anything, just walk away." Ash stated whilst crossing his arms. Nando face was still in a shocked position when a sly grin seemed to form on his face.

"Perhaps you would like to prove that in a battle?" Nando asked

"Sure, I'm game" Ash answered, as the two got up and headed for the battlefield.

-555-

Ash and Nando had situated themselves either side of the Pokémon centres battlefield, with Brock, refereeing. Dawn and Pikachu were on the bench at the side of the centre watching the proceedings.

"Now, my friend, Budew, let us shine!" Nando released his Budew out, who took its battle position.

"Okay then, Eevee, I choose you!" Ash released his Eevee, which was currently the only Pokémon on his current team who hadn't battled yet.

"You can start if you want Ash." Nando stated calmly. Ash knew he was only trying to see what Eevee could do, but wasn't going to let the opportunity go to waste.

"Okay then, Eevee, Swift!" Eevee's tail began to glow with a slight yellow hue, and as she swung it around, if left a trail of pale yellow light, in which multiple stars erupted towards Budew.

"Budew, Bullet Seed to counter." Nando's calm order was met with a barrage of green seeds being fired, with them intercepting with each Star, causing smoke to blow up.

"Eevee, use Quick Attack!" The smoke parted to see Eevee, rocketing forward with a white trail behind her as she slammed into Budew, sending the Pokémon flying.

"Quick Budew, Mega Drain" Nando's quick order meant that Budew's Mega Drain didn't have far to travel, and quickly wrapped around Eevee, beginning to drain energy.

"Eevee, use Iron Tail to break free" Eevee's tail began shinning a metallic silver colour, which broke the vines when they connected with the Mega Drain. Eevee then shot forward, slamming the Iron Tail into Budew, sending it flying to the side, covered in bruises. As Budew struggled to get up, it began to glow a bright blue.

"No way!" Dawn's exclamation from the side-lines mirrored Ash and Brocks thoughts exactly as they saw Budew change into a very familiar shape to them. Nando however, had a confident smirk on his face. The light died away to reveal that Budew had become Roselia.

"Ash," Nando began, drawing Ash's attention. "I want to thank you for giving me the push necessary to help my partner evolve, but I'm afraid our battle ends here." Nando stated with confidence.

"Hey, I may have been lucky with evolutions in the past, but I know enough to know that it doesn't make a battle." Ash stated good heartedly.

"We'll see." Was Nando's only reply. "Roselia, Sunny Day!" The newly evolved Roselia quickly fired a bright mini-sun up into the air, which made the sun glow even brighter. Nando's orders however, weren't finished. "Now, Solar Beam!"

"Quick Attack Eevee to dodge, then fire a Shadow Ball!" As soon as Ash had seen the Sunny Day, he knew what Nando was planning. It was a simple, but very effective strategy for Grass types. As Roselia quick fired the beam of light, Eevee, only barley dodged with Quick Attack, some of her fur being singed on its end. As she came to a stop, she began coalescing energy around her mouth, as a purple and black ball with purple electric sparks began to form. Not a few seconds later, and with a Shadow Ball the same size as her head. Eevee fired the attack, scoring a direct hit on Roselia. Roselia's injuries quickly caught up with the Grass type, resulting in a knockout, and a loss for Nando.

"Roselia is unable to Battle. The winders are Ash and Eevee" Brock stated per usual Pokémon battle rules.

"Alright Eevee, you were awesome!" Ash congratulated his Normal type as he picked her up and began to pet her. Eevee yipped cheerfully at him, glad to have pleased him.

"You were most excellent as well Roselia, Return." Nando stated to his fallen Pokémon, returning the grass type to its Pokéball, and then walking towards Ash. "Ash, I want to thank you for a most excellent battle, and for helping me decide."

"Really, well, what's your decision?" Ash asked the minstrel

"I should not let what a few fool hardly people think dissuade me from my life, and so, I am deciding to take both contests and the league challenge."

"Sounds like you're a man with a plan Nando" Brock said as he walked up with Dawn and Pikachu behind him. However, Dawns attention was drawn to the shuffling bushes the far side of the clearing.

"Yes, I would hope so. Now however, I must see to Roselia's health first, before I continue my journey. Will you join us?"

"I don't know, what do you think of Eevee's health Brock?" Ash asked the breeder.

"She only took damage from the Mega Drain, and that wasn't long enough to cause any damage that would cause Nurse Joy to have a look at. I think a quick rest and she'll be fine"

"Eve, ee ee" Eevee yipped in Ash's arms, agreeing with that statement.

"Well then, we had best be off then-"

"Hold it!" Ash's sentence was cut off by Dawn, who was now staring intently at the far side of the clearing, where another Buneary had appeared, who had settled down with a berry of some kind for its lunch. Ash and Brock immediately gained grins on their faces as they turned back to the young coordinator.

"Go for it Dawn." Was all Ash said as he, Brock, Pikachu and Nando cleared the area to watch the proceedings.

"Okay, Piplup, come on out!" Dawn's partner was released and immediately saw the Buneary ahead of it, and knew what he was doing. The Buneary also looked up at the strange, new noise, and saw a new Pokémon staring at it intently.

"Okay, Piplup, use Bubblebeam!" A barrage of bubbles headed straight towards the Buneary, who was hit by them and knocked back.

"Piplup, get in close and use Peck!" Dawns order was met as Piplup's beak began to shine, as Piplup charged toward the Buneary. Buneary had recovered at this point, and fired off an Ice Beam, a move that surprised many.

"A wild normal type knowing Ice Beam?" Ash questioned.

"Must be an egg move." Brock answered, drawing from his breeders knowledge.

"Nature is truly a strange being." Nando replied, drawing nods, from the overs. Fortunately, Piplup was able to dodge the Ice Beam, and continued charging. Buneary stopped the Ice Beam, and set up a Dizzy Punch, and the two Pokémon began trading hits with one another. It looked like the battle would end in stalemate, until Buneary set eyes upon Pikachu in the background. Suffice to say, the Buneary was distracted enough to allow Piplup to connect with Peck, which knocked the Buneary back. Dawn to this chance to finally catch a Pokémon.

' _Okay, take the ball, prime it, prepare to throw and,'_ "Go Pokéball!" Dawn threw the primed Pokéball, which connected with the normal type, sucking it in. The ball landed and began to wiggle for a while, which only served to further increase the tension in the air. After a while, the Pokéball clicked, signifying a successful capture.

"I did it, I caught a Pokémon!" Dawns cheer broke the silence and she and Piplup began to celebrate. Dawn the went to pick up the Pokéball, and then turned around to meet up with the guys.

"Congratulations Dawn." Ash told the young bluenette.

"I told you, you only need to focus." Brock said afterwards.

"Thanks guys, you were right." Dawn said to her travelling companions. The group and Nando then said their goodbyes to one another, as Nando would stay behind to check out Roselia, and the group would head on out. With a new potential rival for both Ash and Dawn, and a new Pokémon for Dawn, the day turned out to be a good day.

 **Additional notes: Okay, first things first, apologies for taking this long to upload the next chapter. Unfortunately, after the last chapter, I was dealt with a hefty dose of life. First I had a cold, and I don't mean sniffles and a cough, I mean full on fever, with shivers and aches and hot flushes and the works. Then my training course was coming to an end, so I had to help prepare the final presentation for that. Then I had X-mas retail sales work, which was a pain. On top of job searches and job interviews, any time I have had to chill has not been spent on writing, but on reading, Youtube, Fallout, or Star Wars. Again, sorry about that.**

 **This chapter would've had a lot more to it, I was planning on having the entire road up to Jubilife city, but that turned out to be too long for me to get out, and I wanted another chapter out before the end of the year, so I condensed it quite a bit. But anyway, thanks to all those who have reviewed and pointed out certain points that need changing. They should have been changed, but if not, just message me again to remind me again. But otherwise keep reviewing and commenting, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you next time.**


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